I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 623 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for the implementation 
of curricula for training students, teachers, and school personnel to 
understand, recognize, prevent, and respond to signs of human trafficking 
and exploitation in children and youth, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 30, 2023 
Mr. BUCHANAN (for himself and Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for 
the implementation of curricula for training students, 
teachers, and school personnel to understand, recognize, 
prevent, and respond to signs of human trafficking and 
exploitation in children and youth, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Human Trafficking 
and Exploitation Prevention Training Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) According to the National Human Traf-
ficking Hotline, operated by the National Human 
Trafficking Resource Center, there is no single pro-
file for trafficking survivors—trafficking survivors 
include adults and minors from rural, suburban, and 
urban communities across the country. Survivors of 
human trafficking have diverse socioeconomic back-
grounds, varied levels of education, and may be doc-
umented or undocumented. According to the 2018 
Trafficking In Persons Report produced by the De-
partment of State, the Department of Justice, the 
National Human Trafficking Resource Center, and 
Youth.gov, vulnerable populations and risk factors 
for human trafficking include— 
(A) children in the child welfare and juve-
nile justice systems; 
(B) runaway youth; 
(C) homeless youth; 
(D) youth forced to leave home by parents 
or caregivers with no alternate care arranged; 
(E) unaccompanied children; 
(F) American Indians and Alaska Natives; 
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(G) migrant laborers, including undocu-
mented workers and individuals with temporary 
visas; 
(H) recent migration or relocation; 
(I) persons with disabilities; 
(J) LGBTI individuals; 
(K) people of color; 
(L) those with limited-English proficiency; 
(M) low literacy; 
(N) substance abuse; 
(O) mental health issues; 
(P) past trauma or violence; 
(Q) stigma or discrimination; 
(R) family conflict, disruption, or dysfunc-
tion; 
(S) community-level risk factors such as 
peer pressure, social norms, social isolation, 
gang involvement, and living in an under- 
resourced school, neighborhood, or community; 
and 
(T) society-level risk factors such as lack 
of awareness of commercial exploitation and 
human trafficking, sexualization of children, 
and lack of resources. 
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(2) According to the National Human Traf-
ficking Resource Center, human trafficking survivors 
have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural 
areas in all 50 States, and in Washington, DC. The 
3 States with the highest incidents of human traf-
ficking cases reported via phone calls, emails, and 
online tips to the National Human Trafficking Hot-
line in 2018 were California, Texas, and Florida, re-
spectively. 
(3) According to the National Human Traf-
ficking Resource Center, the top recruitment meth-
ods used by sex traffickers based on self-reported 
data from survivors involve an intimate partner or 
marriage proposition, family members, individuals 
posing as a benefactor, offers of employment, or in-
dividuals perpetrating fraud or offering false prom-
ises. 
(4) According to the National Center on Safe 
Supportive Learning Environments, traffickers may 
systematically target vulnerable children by fre-
quenting locations where children congregate—malls, 
schools, bus and train stations, and group homes, 
among other locations. Traffickers also use peers or 
classmates who befriend the target and slowly groom 
the child for the trafficker by bringing the child 
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along to parties and other activities. According to 
Common Sense Media, nearly all children age 8 and 
under live in a home with some type of mobile device 
and use it every day. This is especially concerning 
given that traffickers often recruit through social 
media platforms and other websites. 
(5) Those within vulnerable populations are 
often exploited or groomed for entry into human 
trafficking at a very young age. According to a 2005 
clinical report, ‘‘The Evaluation of Sexual Abuse in 
Children’’, published by the American Academy of 
Pediatrics, studies have suggested that each year ap-
proximately 739,000 children experience some form 
of sexual abuse, resulting in the sexual victimization 
of 12 percent to 25 percent of girls and 8 percent 
to 10 percent of boys before the age of 18. 
(6) Sex trafficking and exploitation can take 
many harmful forms, including a lesser-known but 
just as damaging form of uncoerced exploitation re-
ferred to as ‘‘survival sex’’, meaning the exchange of 
sex for basic needs including clothing, food, shelter, 
or other basic necessities. Survival sex does not in-
volve a third-party trafficker or exploiter, and often 
affects youth, including those who are homeless, 
runaways, or housing-insecure, who lack the finan-
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cial resources, job readiness, support system, or op-
portunity to afford or access these basic necessities. 
(7) Training students, teachers, and school per-
sonnel to understand, recognize, and respond to 
signs of human trafficking and exploitation in chil-
dren and youth is invaluable in the effort to identify 
and prevent human trafficking and exploitation be-
fore it occurs. According to the National Human 
Trafficking Resource Center, the widespread lack of 
awareness and understanding of human trafficking 
leads to low levels of survivor identification by the 
people who most often encounter them. Survivors of 
human trafficking are often forced to work or pro-
vide commercial sex against their will in legal and le-
gitimate business settings or underground markets. 
It is often the case that those who are being ex-
ploited or trafficked are in plain view and may inter-
act with community members, underscoring the ur-
gent need for the expansion of training programs to 
increase awareness and prevention activities in com-
munities across the United States. 
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SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TO TRAIN STUDENTS, 
TEACHERS, AND SCHOOL PERSONNEL TO UN-
DERSTAND, RECOGNIZE, PREVENT, AND RE-
SPOND TO SIGNS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING 
AND CHILD EXPLOITATION. 
Section 582 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 290hh–1) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (j) and (k) as 
subsections (k) and (l), respectively; 
(2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(j) DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TO TRAIN STU-
DENTS, TEACHERS, AND SCHOOL PERSONNEL TO UN-
DERSTAND, RECOGNIZE, PREVENT, AND RESPOND
TO 
SIGNS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND CHILD EXPLOI-
TATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office 
on Trafficking in Persons of the Administration for 
Children and Families (in this subsection referred to 
as the ‘Director’) shall carry out a demonstration 
project for training students, teachers, and school 
personnel at elementary schools and secondary 
schools to understand, recognize, prevent, and re-
spond to signs of human trafficking and exploitation 
in children and youth. 
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‘‘(2) PROJECT ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the 
demonstration project under this subsection, the Di-
rector shall— 
‘‘(A) approve vendors pursuant to para-
graph (3); 
‘‘(B) award grants pursuant to paragraph 
(4); 
‘‘(C) develop a reliable methodology for 
vendors and grantees to collect, and report to 
the Director, in a manner that prevents disclo-
sure of individually identifiable information con-
sistent with all applicable privacy laws and reg-
ulations, data on the number of human traf-
ficking survivors identified and served pursuant 
to this subsection, the number of students in el-
ementary school or secondary school identified 
as being at risk of being trafficked or exploited, 
and the demographics of such survivors and 
students at risk; and 
‘‘(D) assist entities that are eligible for 
grants under paragraph (4) in developing prop-
er protocols and procedures to— 
‘‘(i) work with law enforcement to re-
port, and facilitate communication with, 
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human trafficking survivors and exploited 
children; and 
‘‘(ii) refer human trafficking survivors 
and exploited children to appropriate social 
or survivor service agencies or organiza-
tions. 
‘‘(3) VENDORS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the 
demonstration project under this subsection, 
the Director shall approve a list of nonprofit or-
ganizations as verified vendors— 
‘‘(i) to develop or make available cur-
ricula for the training described in para-
graph (1); and 
‘‘(ii) to implement such training in ac-
cordance with such curricula. 
‘‘(B) 
CONSIDERATIONS.—In 
approving 
vendors under this subsection, the Director 
shall give consideration to whether the non-
profit organization— 
‘‘(i) engages stakeholders, including 
survivors of human trafficking, and Fed-
eral, State, local, and Tribal partners, to 
develop the curricula; and 
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‘‘(ii) has a demonstrated expertise 
in— 
‘‘(I) 
developing 
human 
traf-
ficking and exploitation prevention 
curricula for students, teachers, or 
school personnel in elementary school 
and secondary school that is— 
‘‘(aa) age-appropriate; 
‘‘(bb) culturally competent; 
‘‘(cc) evidence based; 
‘‘(dd) validated by university 
research partners; 
‘‘(ee) inclusive of K–12 stu-
dents; 
‘‘(ff) adaptive to all regions; 
‘‘(gg) inclusive of all chil-
dren; and 
‘‘(hh) based on vetted and 
proven materials that have been 
tested over a 3-year run of suc-
cess; 
‘‘(II) training students, teachers, 
or school personnel in identification 
and proper response to human traf-
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ficking described in paragraph (1); 
and 
‘‘(III) creating a scalable, repeat-
able ‘Train the Trainer’ program (de-
fined as a program that trains in-
structors who can teach material to 
other instructors) that employs appro-
priate technology tools and methodolo-
gies, 
including 
measurement 
and 
training curricula. 
‘‘(4) GRANTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the 
demonstration project under this subsection, 
the Director shall award grants to eligible enti-
ties to implement the training described in 
paragraph (1) in accordance with the curricula 
developed and made available by verified ven-
dors pursuant to paragraph (3). 
‘‘(B) DIVERSITY OF GRANTS.—In award-
ing grants under this subsection, the Director 
shall— 
‘‘(i) consult with the Director of the 
Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Adminis-
trator for the Office of Juvenile Justice 
and Delinquency Prevention, the Director 
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of the Office for Victims of Crime, and the 
head of the Office of Partnership and En-
gagement of the Department of Homeland 
Security to identify the geographic areas in 
the United States with the highest preva-
lence of reported human trafficking in-
stances for children, aged 5 through 17; 
‘‘(ii) consult, as appropriate, with the 
Secretary of Education, the Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development, the Sec-
retary of Labor, and the Attorney General 
of the United States to identify the geo-
graphic areas in the United States with 
the highest prevalence of at risk, vulner-
able, or underserved populations, including 
homeless youth, foster youth, youth in-
volved in the child welfare system, and 
runaways; and 
‘‘(iii) give priority to eligible entities 
located in, or primarily serving, one or 
more areas identified pursuant to clause (i) 
or (ii). 
‘‘(C) ALLOCATION OF GRANT FUNDING.— 
The Director shall ensure that all grant funds 
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under this subsection are awarded to applicants 
who serve K–12 students. 
‘‘(D) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘eligible entity’ includes a nonprofit orga-
nization, an elementary school, a local edu-
cational agency, a secondary school, and a State 
educational agency. 
‘‘(5) DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Director shall 
collect, and report to the Congress, data on the 
following: 
‘‘(i) The total number of entities that 
received a grant under this subsection. 
‘‘(ii) The total number of elementary 
and secondary schools that established 
proper protocols and procedures through 
program development. 
‘‘(iii) The total number and geo-
graphic distribution of students, teachers, 
and school personnel trained pursuant to 
this subsection. 
‘‘(iv) The results of pretraining and 
posttraining surveys to gauge increased 
understanding and recognition of signs of 
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human trafficking and exploitation in chil-
dren and youth. 
‘‘(v) The number of human trafficking 
survivors and exploited children identified 
and served by vendors and grantees under 
this subsection, excluding any individually 
identifiable information about such sur-
vivors and children. 
‘‘(vi) The number of students in ele-
mentary school or secondary school identi-
fied by vendors and grantees under this 
subsection as being at risk of being traf-
ficked or exploited, excluding any individ-
ually identifiable information about such 
survivors. 
‘‘(vii) The demographics of human 
trafficking survivors, exploited children, 
and students at risk of being trafficked or 
exploited described in clauses (v) and (vi), 
excluding any individually identifiable in-
formation about such survivors, children, 
and students. 
‘‘(viii) Any best practices identified by 
the grantees under this subsection. 
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‘‘(B) ANNUAL
REPORT.—The Director 
shall— 
‘‘(i) submit a report under subpara-
graph (A) not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this subsection and 
annually thereafter; and 
‘‘(ii) prepare and submit each such re-
port in a manner that prevents the disclo-
sure of individually identifiable information 
consistent with all applicable privacy laws 
and regulations. 
‘‘(6) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) The terms ‘elementary school’, ‘local 
educational agency’, ‘middle grades’, ‘secondary 
school’, and ‘State educational agency’ have the 
meanings given to those terms in section 8101 
of the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965. 
‘‘(B) The term ‘school personnel’ includes 
school resource officers, school nurses, school 
counselors, school principals, school administra-
tors, and other school leadership.’’; and 
(3) in subsection (k) (authorizing appropria-
tions), as redesignated by paragraph (1)— 
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(A) by striking ‘‘There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section’’ and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section (other than 
subsection (j))’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(2) DEMONSTRATION
PROJECT
FUNDING.— 
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
subsection (j) $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2024 through 2028.’’. 
Æ 
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