II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3787 

To establish a congressional Commission on the Abolition of Modern-Day 

Slavery. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 3, 2006 

Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. PRYOR, and Mrs. DOLE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To establish a congressional Commission on the Abolition 

of Modern-Day Slavery. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Commis5 sion on the Abolition of Modern-Day Slavery Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MODERN-DAY SLAVERY. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘modern-day slavery’’ means 

8 the recruitment, harboring, transportation, receipt, pro9 curement, or control of persons through the use of force, 

10 fraud, coercion, abduction, deception, abuse of power, or 


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1 of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving 

2 of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person 

3 having control over another person, for the purpose of sub4 jection to debt bondage, serfdom, involuntary servitude, 

5 forced labor, chattel, forced marriage, peonage, sexual ex6 ploitation, or trafficking. 

7 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 

9 (1) The Declaration of Independence recognizes 

10 the inherent dignity and worth of all people and 

11 states that all people are created equal and are en12 dowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 

13 rights, and the right to be free from slavery and in14 voluntary servitude is among those unalienable 

15 rights. 

16 (2) Despite international laws outlawing mod17 ern-day slavery, modern-day slavery affects virtually 

18 every country in the world, and as many as 

19 27,000,000 people are victims. Modern-day slavery 

20 is one of the fastest growing areas of international 

21 criminal activity and is an increasing concern to the 

22 United States Administration, Congress, and the 

23 international community; the Federal Bureau of In24 vestigation estimated that modern-day slavery gen25 erates over $9,000,000,000 every year. 


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1 (3) Traffickers use threats, intimidation manip2 ulation, coercion, fraud, shame, and violence to force 

3 victims into modern-day slavery. Traffickers cap4 italize on areas of conflict and post-conflict, 

5 transitioning states, sudden political change, eco6 nomic collapse, civil unrest, internal armed conflict, 

7 chronic unemployment, widespread poverty, personal 

8 disaster, lack of economic opportunity, and natural 

9 disasters. 

10 (4) Modern-day slavery: contributes to the 

11 breakdown of societies due to the loss of family sup12 port networks; has a negative impact on the labor 

13 market in countries; brutalizes men, women, and 

14 children and exposes them to rape, torture, HIV/ 

15 AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, vio16 lence, dangerous working conditions, poor nutrition, 

17 drug and alcohol addiction, severe psychological 

18 trauma from separation, coercion, sexual abuse, and 

19 depression; and strips human beings of dignity, re20 spect, and hope for their future. 

21 (5) The United States has given priority to 

22 combating human trafficking through the Victims of 

23 Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 

24 (Public Law 106–386) and the Trafficking Victims 


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1 Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Public Law 

2 109–164). 

3 (6) The State Department issued its sixth con4 gressionally mandated Trafficking in Persons Report 

5 (TIP) in June, 2006, which categorizes countries 

6 into tiered groups according to the efforts they are 

7 making to combat trafficking. The countries that do 

8 not cooperate in the fight against trafficking (Tier 

9 3 Countries) have been made subject to United 

10 States sanctions since 2003, under the President’s 

11 direction. 

12 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a con14 gressional Commission on the Abolition of Modern-Day 

15 Slavery (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Commission’’). 

16 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

17 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall be 

18 composed of 12 members, of whom— 

19 (A) 3 shall be appointed by the Speaker of 

20 the House of Representatives; 

21 (B) 3 shall be appointed by the majority 

22 leader of the Senate; 

23 (C) 3 shall be appointed by the minority 

24 leader of the House of Representatives; and 


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1 (D) 3 shall be appointed by the minority 

2 leader of the Senate. 

3 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Members of the Com4 mission shall be appointed from among individuals 

5 with demonstrated expertise and experience in com6 bating modern-day slavery and trafficking of per7 sons. 

8 (3) DATE.—The appointments of the members 

9 of the Commission shall be made not later than 30 

10 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

11 (c) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—Mem12 bers shall be appointed for the life of the Commission. Any 

13 vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers, but 

14 shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint15 ment. 

16 (d) COCHAIRPERSONS.—The Speaker of the House of 

17 Representatives shall designate 1 of the members ap18 pointed under subsection (b)(1)(A) as a cochairperson of 

19 the Commission. The majority leader of the Senate shall 

20 designate 1 of the members appointed under subsection 

21 (b)(1)(B) as a cochairperson of the Commission. 

22 (e) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 60 days after 

23 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall 

24 hold its first meeting. 


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1 (f) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at the 

2 call of either cochairperson. 

3 (g) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the 

4 Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser num5 ber of members may hold hearings. 

6 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 

7 (a) STUDY.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall— 

9 (A) conduct a thorough and thoughtful 

10 study of all matters relating to modern-day 

11 slavery, including vulnerabilities of commonly 

12 affected populations, such as populations in 

13 areas of conflict and post conflict, transitioning 

14 states, states undergoing sudden political 

15 change, economic collapse, civil unrest, internal 

16 armed conflict, chronic unemployment, wide17 spread poverty, lack of opportunity, and na18 tional disasters; 

19 (B) study the roles of the rule of law, lack 

20 of enforcement, and corruption within inter21 national law enforcement institutions that allow 

22 the proliferation of modern-day slavery; 

23 (C) review all relevant governmental pro24 grams in existence on the date of the beginning 

25 of the study, including the United States AgenVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:14 Aug 07, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3787.IS S3787

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1 cy for International Development, the Depart2 ment of State, the Department of Defense, the 

3 Department of Labor, the Department of 

4 Health and Human Services, the Interagency 

5 Task Force to Monitor and Combat Traf6 ficking, and the Human Smuggling and Traf7 ficking Center; and 

8 (D) convene additional experts from rel9 evant nongovernmental organizations as part of 

10 the Commission’s thorough review. 

11 (2) GOALS.—In making determinations under 

12 paragraph (1), the Commission shall seek to pro13 mote goals of— 

14 (A) providing a comprehensive and fully 

15 integrated evaluation of best practices, to pre16 vent modern-day slavery; 

17 (B) providing a comprehensive and fully 

18 integrated evaluation of the best practices to 

19 rescue and rehabilitate victims of modern-day 

20 slavery; 

21 (C) providing a comprehensive and fully in22 tegrated evaluation of the best practices for 

23 prosecution of traffickers and increasing ac24 countability within countries; 


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1 (D) providing a comprehensive and fully 

2 integrated evaluation of exportable models to 

3 prevent modern-day slavery, rescue and reha4 bilitate victims of modern-day slavery, prosecute 

5 offenders, and increase education and account6 ability about modern-day slavery, which could 

7 contribute governments, nongovernmental orga8 nizations, and institutions; 

9 (E) identifying countries which provide the 

10 greatest opportunity for abolition of modern11 day slavery specific to United States involve12 ment; 

13 (F) connecting various organizations to fa14 cilitate integration of information regarding 

15 identifying, extracting, and rehabilitating vic16 tims; 

17 (G) examining the economic impact on 

18 communities and countries that demonstrate 

19 measured success in fighting modern-day slav20 ery; 

21 (H) increasing education and awareness 

22 about modern-day slavery throughout the 

23 United States to decrease modern-day slavery 

24 within the United States and abroad; and 


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1 (I) providing a comprehensive evaluation of 

2 best practices to educate high-risk populations. 

3 (b) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall de4 velop recommendations on how to best combat modern5 day slavery, including an economic, social, and judicial 

6 evaluation. 

7 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 11 months after the 

8 date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall sub9 mit a report to the Speaker and minority leader of the 

10 House of Representatives and the majority leader and mi11 nority leader of the Senate, which shall contain a detailed 

12 statement of the legislation and administrative actions as 

13 it considers appropriate. 

14 SEC. 6. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 

15 (a) HEARINGS.—The Commission may hold such 

16 hearings, sit and act at such times and places, take such 

17 testimony, and receive such evidence as the Commission 

18 considers necessary to carry out this Act. 

19 (b) INFORMATION FROM GOVERNMENTAL AGEN20 CIES.—The Commission may secure directly from any de21 partment or agency such information as the Commission 

22 considers necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request 

23 of either cochairperson of the Commission, the head of 

24 such department or agency shall furnish such information 

25 to the Commission. 


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1 SEC. 7. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 

2 (a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Each member of 

3 the Commission who is not an officer or employee of the 

4 Federal Government shall be compensated at a rate equal 

5 to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay pre6 scribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under sec7 tion 5313 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (in8 cluding travel time) during which such member is engaged 

9 in the performance of the duties of the Commission. All 

10 members of the Commission who are officers or employees 

11 of the United States shall serve without compensation in 

12 addition to that received for their services as officers or 

13 employees of the United States. 

14 (b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com15 mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 

16 diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ17 ees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

18 5, United States Code, while away from their homes or 

19 regular places of business in the performance of services 

20 for the Commission. 

21 (c) STAFF.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The cochairpersons of the 

23 Commission, acting jointly, may, without regard to 

24 the civil service laws and regulations, appoint and 

25 terminate an executive director and such other addi26 tional personnel as may be necessary to enable the 


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1 Commission to perform its duties. The employment 

2 of an executive director shall be subject to confirma3 tion by the Commission. 

4 (2) COMPENSATION.—The cochairpersons of 

5 the Commission, acting jointly, may fix the com6 pensation of the executive director and other per7 sonnel without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter 

8 III of chapter 53 of title 5, United Sates Code, re9 lating to classification of positions and General 

10 Schedule pay rates, except that the rate of pay for 

11 the executive director and other personnel may not 

12 exceed the rate payable for level V of the Executive 

13 Schedule under section 5316 of such title. 

14 (d) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—Federal 

15 Government employees may be detailed to the Commission 

16 without reimbursement, and such detail shall be without 

17 interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege. 

18 (e) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT19 TENT SERVICES.—The cochairpersons of the Commission, 

20 acting jointly, may procure temporary and intermittent 

21 services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States 

22 Code, at rates for individuals which do not exceed the daily 

23 equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for 

24 level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of 

25 such title. 


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1 SEC. 8. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION. 

2 The Commission shall terminate 90 days after the 

3 date on which the Commission submits its report under 

4 section 5. 

5 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro7 priated to the Commission for fiscal year 2007 such sums 

8 as may be necessary to carry out this Act. 

9 (b) AVAILABILITY.—Any sums appropriated under 

10 the authorization contained in this section shall remain 

11 available, without fiscal year limitation, until expensed. 

Æ 


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