IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 507 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2019 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

To direct the Attorney General to study issues relating to 

human trafficking, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Put Trafficking Vic3 tims First Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. TRAINING FOR PROSECUTIONS OF TRAFFICKERS 

5 AND SUPPORT FOR STATE SERVICES FOR 

6 VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that a portion of the funds 

8 available for training and technical assistance under sec9 tion 107(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Victims of Trafficking and Vi10 olence Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 

11 7105(b)(2)(B)(ii)) should be devoted to advancing the fol12 lowing goals: 

13 (1) Increasing the personal safety of victim 

14 service providers, who may face intimidation or re15 taliation for their activities. 

16 (2) Promoting a trauma-informed, evidence17 based, and victim-centered approach to the provision 

18 of services for victims of trafficking. 

19 (3) Ensuring that law enforcement officers and 

20 prosecutors make every attempt to determine wheth21 er an individual is a victim of human trafficking be22 fore arresting the individual for, or charging the in23 dividual with, an offense that is a direct result of the 

24 victimization of the individual. 

25 (4) Effectively prosecuting traffickers and indi26 viduals who patronize or solicit children for sex, and 


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1 facilitating access for child victims of commercial sex 

2 trafficking to the services and protections afforded 

3 to other victims of sexual violence. 

4 (5) Encouraging States to improve efforts to 

5 identify and meet the needs of human trafficking 

6 victims, including through internet outreach and 

7 other methods that are responsive to the needs of 

8 victims in their communities. 

9 (6) Ensure victims of trafficking, including 

10 United States citizens, lawful permanent residents, 

11 and foreign nationals are eligible for services. 

12 SEC. 3. WORKING TO DEVELOP METHODOLOGIES TO AS13 SESS PREVALENCE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

14 (a) WORKING GROUP.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen17 eral, in consultation with other Federal entities en18 gaged in efforts to combat human trafficking, shall 

19 establish an expert working group, which shall in20 clude survivors of human trafficking, experts on sex 

21 and labor trafficking, representatives from organiza22 tions collecting data on human trafficking, and law 

23 enforcement officers. The working group shall, uti24 lizing, to the extent practicable, existing efforts of 


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1 agencies, task forces, States, localities, tribes, re2 search institutions, and organizations— 

3 (A) identify barriers to the collection of 

4 data on the incidence of sex and labor traf5 ficking; and 

6 (B) recommend practices to promote better 

7 data collection and analysis. 

8 (2) PILOT TESTING.—Not later than 3 years 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

10 General shall implement a pilot project to test prom11 ising methodologies studied under paragraph (1). 

12 (b) REPORT.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years after 

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen15 eral, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, the 

16 Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Sec17 retary of Homeland Security, and the Director of 

18 the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, shall 

19 submit to Congress a report on— 

20 (A) Federal efforts to estimate the preva21 lence of human trafficking at the national and 

22 regional levels; 

23 (B) the effectiveness of current policies 

24 and procedures to address the needs of victims 

25 of trafficking; and 


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1 (C) an analysis of demographic character2 istics of victims of trafficking in different re3 gions of the United States and recommenda4 tions for how to address the unique 

5 vulnerabilities of different victims. 

6 (2) INPUT FROM RELEVANT PARTIES.—In de7 veloping the report under paragraph (1), the Attor8 ney General shall seek input from the United States 

9 Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, victims of 

10 trafficking, human trafficking survivor advocates, 

11 service providers for victims of sex and labor traf12 ficking, and the President’s Interagency Task Force 

13 on Human Trafficking. 

14 (c) SURVEY.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

15 of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in coordi16 nation with Federal, State, local, and Tribal governments, 

17 and private organizations, including victim service pro18 viders and expert researchers, shall develop and execute 

19 a survey of survivors seeking and receiving victim assist20 ance services for the purpose of improving the provision 

21 of services to human trafficking victims and victim identi22 fication in the United States. Survey results shall be made 

23 publicly available on the website of the Department of Jus24 tice. 


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1 (d) NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—No additional funds 

2 are authorized to carry out this section. 

3 SEC. 4. REPORT ON PROSECUTORS SEEKING RESTITUTION 

4 IN TRAFFICKING CASES. 

5 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

6 of this Act, the Attorney General, in consultation with the 

7 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, shall 

8 submit to Congress a report on efforts to increase restitu9 tion to victims of human trafficking. 

10 SEC. 5. SENSE OF CONGRESS ENCOURAGING STATES TO 

11 ADOPT PROTECTIONS FOR VICTIMS OF TRAF12 FICKING. 

13 Congress recognizes and applauds the State legisla14 tive bodies that have taken tremendous steps to adopt pro15 tections and services for victims of trafficking. Congress 

16 encourages States to— 

17 (1) uphold the dignity of human trafficking sur18 vivors; 

19 (2) ensure the safety, confidentiality, and well20 being of victims of trafficking, while recognizing 

21 symptoms of trauma and coping mechanisms that 

22 may impact victims’ interactions with law enforce23 ment, the justice system, and service providers; 

24 (3) implement screening mechanisms to identify 

25 and extend appropriate services to children in the 


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1 custody of child protective services agencies, the ju2 venile justice system, or the criminal justice system 

3 who are victims of trafficking; 

4 (4) promote greater access to child welfare serv5 ices for, rather than criminalization of, child victims 

6 of sex trafficking; 

7 (5) develop a 24-hour emergency response plan 

8 by which victims of human trafficking may receive 

9 immediate protection, shelter, and support from a 

10 victim assistance coordinator when those victims are 

11 first identified; 

12 (6) adopt protections for adult victims of traf13 ficking, such as protection if the victim’s safety is at 

14 risk, comprehensive trauma-informed, long-term, cul15 turally competent care and healing services, mental 

16 health services to relieve traumatic stress, housing, 

17 education (including, where appropriate, vocational 

18 training and employment assistance), mentoring, 

19 language assistance, drug and substance abuse serv20 ices, and legal services; 

21 (7) ensure that child sex trafficking victims are 

22 treated as children in need of child protective serv23 ices and receive appropriate care in the child wel24 fare, rather than juvenile justice, system; 


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1 (8) encourage the adoption of procedures for 

2 human trafficking victims that are consistent with 

3 those afforded to victims of sexual assault, rape, 

4 child sexual abuse, or incest to allow human traf5 ficking victim to clear records, expunge convictions, 

6 and vacate adjudications related to prostitution and 

7 nonviolent offenses that arose as a direct result of 

8 being trafficked, including protections for foreign 

9 nationals who are being removed and those who are 

10 losing or determined to be inadmissible for immigra11 tion benefits as a result of the aforementioned 

12 human trafficking victim related conviction or ar13 rest; and 

14 (9) ensure victims of trafficking, including 

15 United States citizens, lawful permanent residents, 

16 and foreign nationals are eligible for services. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 7, 

2019. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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