Herrera Beutler Joins U.S. House in Voting for Bills to Curb Sex Trafficking

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By The Chronicle

Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, has voted along with a majority of her colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass 12 bills confronting the sex trafficking industry.

The House passed the bills earlier this week, which range from closing legal loopholes for predatory websites to combating sex tourism.

The Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act aims to make it illegal for Backpage.com and similar websites to knowingly advertise sex with minors, while giving courts tools to prosecute people who use online marketplaces for sex trafficking.

Other bills passed this week in the House are as follows:

• House Resolution 514, which elevates the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to a bureau and puts pressure on other nations to combat sex trafficking;

• House Resolution 515, which combats sex tourism by directing Homeland Security to notify foreign governments when U.S. citizens that are confirmed sex offenders travel to other countries;

• House Resolution 357, which requires training for federal personnel who come into contact with trafficking;

• House Resolution 468, which allows the Department of Health and Human Services to use street outreach programs to identify and help homeless youth and move them off the streets;



• House Resolution 469, which ensures each state has updated child welfare policies and trains child welfare workers to better identify and assess victims of trafficking;

• House Resolution 246, which aims to change language used in reporting categories of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to include child sex trafficking;

• House Resolution 398, which hopes to educate and equip health care professionals to recognize signs of human trafficking so they can intercede on patients’ behalf;

• House Resolution 460, which directs training for the Department of Homeland Security to deter, detect, disrupt and prevent human trafficking;

• House Resolution 350, which allows existing Department of Justice grants to be used for emergency housing for trafficking victims;

• House Resolution 159, which encourages states to pass safe-harbor laws that treat minors involved in child sex trafficking as victims rather than criminals, and also increases federal, state and local cooperation in investigating trafficking cases and going after buyers and pimps;

• House Resolution 181, which ensures additional resources go to victims of human trafficking and authorizes grants for law enforcement training, deterrence programs and restorative care for victims.