Counter Human Trafficking Research and Development Act
Bill: H.R.7710 | Sponsor: Rep. Moore, Gwen (D-WI)
Policy area: Science, Technology, Communications

Summary:

To establish the National Counter Human Trafficking Research and 
            Development Initiative, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Counter Human Trafficking Research 
and Development Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Trafficking in persons is a multi-billion dollar 
        transnational illicit enterprise.
            (2) Globally, millions of people, including children, are 
        trafficked each year through sexual exploitation or forced 
        labor.
            (3) Human trafficking impacts every country around the 
        world, including the United States, whether as the country of 
        origin, transit, or destination, or combination of all three.
            (4) Science and technology have important roles to play in 
        combatting human trafficking. The 2019 United Nations 
        Interagency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons 
        report states that technology can help practitioners combat 
        trafficking, such as by aiding investigations, enhancing 
        prosecutions, raising awareness, providing service to victims, 
        and shedding light on the make-up and operation of trafficking 
        networks.
            (5) Limited data sources and data fragmentation are major 
        barriers to anti-trafficking efforts, both domestically and 
        globally, and has limited the ability to carry out rigorous 
        study of human trafficking.
            (6) Key areas of need for research and technology 
        development to counter human trafficking are measuring the 
        prevalence of trafficking, identifying effective mechanisms for 
        disrupting human trafficking networks, establishing metrics of 
        success for ongoing efforts to combat trafficking, 
        understanding long and short-term needs of victims and 
        survivors, vulnerability reduction, trafficking prevention and 
        demand reduction, understanding how legitimate businesses may 
        enable human trafficking, understanding all forms of 
        trafficking, including labor trafficking, the nature and 
        characteristics of victims of human trafficking in the United 
        States, understanding illicit activities and corruption 
        associated with human trafficking, and evaluating the efficacy 
        and impact of anti-trafficking interventions.
            (7) To improve efforts to counter human trafficking, the 
        Federal Government must address major barriers to human 
        trafficking research and technology development by improving 
        and increasing coordination of research efforts and information 
        sharing among researchers, Federal agencies, law enforcement, 
        local, State, and Tribal governments, private sector, survivors 
        and survivor organizations, policymakers, international 
        partners, and other stakeholder communities.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

    In this Act, the term ``trafficking'' has the meaning given the 
term ``severe forms of trafficking in persons'' in section 103 of the 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102).

SEC. 4. COUNTER HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE.

    (a) In General.--The President, acting through the Director of the 
Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall establish a National 
Counter Human Trafficking Research and Development Initiative to 
improve counter human trafficking efforts through--
            (1) supporting interdisciplinary research in data, 
        computational, and information sciences, engineering and social 
        and behavioral sciences to accelerate scientific understanding 
        and technological innovation that contributes to the 
        prevention, identification, and disruption of human trafficking 
        within and across communities, including urban, rural, and 
        indigenous and tribal communities, including--
                    (A) research and development on tools for measuring 
                the prevalence of human trafficking;
                    (B) design, development, implementation, 
                adaptation, and evaluation of human trafficking 
                interventions;
                    (C) research to detect and disrupt human 
                trafficking demand;
                    (D) research to increase understanding of social, 
                financial, and physical networks used in human 
                trafficking; and
                    (E) research and standards development to detect 
                and disrupt cyber-enabled human trafficking;
            (2) accelerating the development, demonstration, and 
        translation of technology that contributes to the prevention, 
        identification, and disruption of human trafficking, including 
        by informing anti-trafficking policymaking;
            (3) leveraging existing research programs and activities, 
        as appropriate, on cybersecurity, privacy enhancing 
        technologies, biometrics, digital identity management, digital 
        forensics, data and metadata analytics tools, processes, and 
        techniques to prevent, identify and disrupt human trafficking, 
        including improving the taxonomy of digital trafficking 
        indicators and signatures;
            (4) improving Federal agency coordination of research and 
        development activities to counter human trafficking;
            (5) improving the sharing of human trafficking data and 
        information among Federal agencies and between public and 
        private entities, while protecting victim and survivor privacy 
        and safety, including by promoting trauma-informed approaches 
        to data collection and sharing;
            (6) leveraging technology development across the Federal 
        Government to counter human trafficking;
            (7) coordinating and collaborating, to the extent 
        practicable and as appropriate, with similar international 
        efforts and organizations to share data, research, 
        breakthroughs, and best practices;
            (8) facilitating public-private partnerships between 
        Federal agencies, State, local and tribal governments, 
        academia, law enforcement, financial institutions, private 
        sector, telecommunications and internet platform providers, 
        nonprofit organizations, nongovernmental organizations, human 
        trafficking victims' and survivors' services organizations, and 
        international anti-trafficking organizations to improve human 
        trafficking research;
            (9) supporting research and development informed by human 
        trafficking survivors; and
            (10) identifying unintended negative consequences of 
        technology and policy implementation on human trafficking 
        networks, operations, and survivors.
    (b) Initiative Activities.--The activities of the Initiative shall 
include--
            (1) sustained support for anti-trafficking related research 
        and development, which may include--
                    (A) grants to fund the work of individual 
                researchers and teams of researchers, including 
                interdisciplinary teams;
                    (B) projects funded under joint solicitations by a 
                collaboration of no fewer than two agencies 
                participating in the Initiative; and
                    (C) interdisciplinary research centers organized to 
                investigate basic and applied research questions, carry 
                out technology prototyping, development and 
                demonstration activities,scale up anti-trafficking 
                research and development, testing, and evaluation;
            (2) sustained support for databases and related tools to 
        enhance scientific research and technology development, 
        including--
                    (A) support for the establishment, curation, and 
                maintenance of databases of vulnerability indicators, 
                trafficking indicators, and other related information, 
                with consideration of data security and privacy in 
                facilitating access to these databases;
                    (B) development of standards for data sharing and 
                curation, including interoperability, metadata, and 
                protection of privacy, confidentiality, and security;
                    (C) support for the development of privacy 
                preserving tools and techniques to enable computation 
                or analysis of trafficking indicators while maintaining 
                privacy and confidentiality of that data; and
                    (D) support for the development of computational 
                tools, including natural language processing, computer 
                vision, and social network analysis for the enrichment 
                of data;
            (3) supporting activities to accelerate the translation and 
        implementation of new products, processes, and technologies 
        by--
                    (A) identifying precompetitive research 
                opportunities with potential for commercialization or 
                adoption by government agencies;
                    (B) facilitating public-private partnerships in 
                anti-trafficking related research and development;
                    (C) connecting researchers, graduate students, and 
                postdoctoral fellows with entrepreneurship education 
                and training opportunities;
                    (D) supporting proof of concept activities and 
                formation of startup companies including through 
                programs such as the Small Business Innovation Research 
                Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer 
                Program as described in section 9 of the Small Business 
                Act (15 U.S.C. 638); and
                    (E) pursuant section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler 
                Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), 
                consider sponsorship of a prize competition; and
            (4) supporting research and development activities to 
        support public outreach and dissemination of best practices, 
        tools, and information to prevent, identify, and combat 
        trafficking, including supply chain transparency, business 
        procurement, and other activities.

SEC. 5. INITIATIVE COORDINATION.

    (a) In General.--The President, acting through the Director of the 
Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall establish or designate 
an interagency committee, which shall be co-chaired by the National 
Science Foundation, and include representatives from any other Federal 
agency the President considers appropriate (in this section referred to 
as the ``Interagency Committee''). The Interagency Committee shall--
            (1) oversee the planning, management, and coordination of 
        the Initiative;
            (2) establish and periodically update the goals and 
        priorities of the Initiative;
            (3) develop, not later than 12 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, and update every 5 years thereafter, a 
        strategic plan submitted to the Committee on Science, Space, 
        and Technology of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
        Senate that--
                    (A) guides the activities of the Initiative for 
                purposes of meeting the goals and priorities 
                established under and updated pursuant to paragraph 
                (3);
                    (B) establishes milestones and associated 
                activities that reach those milestones in pursuit of 
                achieving the goals of the Initiative;
                    (C) describe how the Initiative will measure 
                progress toward the established milestones; and
                    (D) describes--
                            (i) the Initiative's support for long-term 
                        funding of research and development related to 
                        countering human trafficking;
                            (ii) the Initiative's support for 
                        interagency research and public-private 
                        partnerships;
                            (iii) how the Initiative will contribute to 
                        translating research and development results 
                        from the lab to victim and survivor 
                        organizations, law enforcement, investigators, 
                        and prosecutors;
                            (iv) the Initiative's support for victim 
                        and survivor-centric privacy, confidentiality, 
                        and security considerations;
                            (v) the Initiative's support for inclusive 
                        research of diverse populations, including 
                        girls and women of color, homeless individuals, 
                        LGBTQIA+ youth, Indigenous People, migrant 
                        workers, and other groups; and
                            (vi) develops a plan to utilize Federal 
                        programs, such as Small Business Innovation 
                        Research Program and the Small Business 
                        Technology Transfer Program as described in 
                        section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
                        638), in support of activities described in 
                        section 4(b)(3);
            (4) in carrying out this section, take into consideration 
        the recommendations by the advisory committee established in 
        section 6 and input from other expert stakeholders; and
            (5) coordinate with the Interagency Task Force to Monitor 
        and Combat Trafficking established pursuant to section 105 of 
        the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 
        7103).
    (b) Biennial Report.--Beginning with fiscal year 2024 and ending in 
fiscal year 2028, not later than 90 days after submission of the 
President's annual budget request and every second fiscal year 
thereafter, the Interagency Committee shall prepare and submit to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate a report that includes a summarized agency 
budget in support of the Initiative for the fiscal year to which the 
budget applies and the following fiscal year, including a breakout of 
spending for each agency participating in the Program.

SEC. 6. ADVISORY COMMITTEE.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the National Science Foundation shall, in 
consultation with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 
establish an advisory committee on counter human trafficking research 
and development (referred to in this section as the ``advisory 
committee'').
    (b) Composition.--The advisory committee established pursuant 
subsection (a) shall be composed of not fewer than 12 members, 
including representatives of research institutions, institutions of 
higher education, law enforcement, financial institutions, payment 
processors, private sector, nonprofit organizations, survivors of human 
trafficking, including at least one survivor of labor trafficking and 
one survivor of sex trafficking, and victims' and survivors' services 
organizations who are qualified to provide advice to the Initiative.
    (c) Duties.--The advisory committee established under subsection 
(a) shall assess--
            (1) the coordination, implementation, and activities of the 
        Initiative;
            (2) the balance of activities and funding across the 
        Initiative; and
            (3) the need to revise the Program.

SEC. 7. GAO REVIEW.

    (a) Study.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a 
study that includes an assessment of human trafficking data collection 
needs and practices of Federal agencies, local nongovernmental 
organizations, law enforcement, and prosecutors to improve Federal 
research and development to prevent, identify, and disrupt human 
trafficking.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 
a report on the findings of the study conducted under subsection (a) to 
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate.

SEC. 8. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES.

    (a) In General.--The Director of the National Science Foundation 
shall continue to award grants on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis 
to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or a 
consortia thereof) to support anti-trafficking related research and 
development that contributes to the prevention, identification, and 
disruption of human trafficking.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the National Science Foundation to carry out subsection 
(a)--
            (1) $2,600,000 for fiscal year 2023;
            (2) $3,200,000 for fiscal year 2024;
            (3) $3,800,000 for fiscal year 2025;
            (4) $4,400,000 for fiscal year 2026; and
            (5) $5,200,000 for fiscal year 2027.
                                 <all>