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Details buried in legislation to make human trafficking illegal in New York continue to stall the popular bill in Albany.
While Senate and Assembly leaders agree a statewide ban is needed, the details of the competing bills in both chambers continue to stymie passage. The details include the types of crimes covered under the bill and the social services offered to victims. Currently, 27 states have passed some form of anti-human trafficking legislation, which advocates say is needed to complement the seven-year-old federal human trafficking ban.
While the federal ban covers a variety of social services and criminalizes the modern day form of slavery, state laws are needed to provide an extra level of protection for victims.
The caseload is too much for federal law enforcement alone, said Kevin Balles, president of the Washington-based international anti-trafficking advocacy group Free the Slaves.
“The fact of the matter is under the federal law, there were more cases than the federal prosecutors could handle,” Balles said. “They were cherry picking cases.”
State laws allow state and local law enforcement to prosecute these cases. He noted that existing laws on prostitution and forced labor do not always cover human trafficking cases.
Federal statistics estimate that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year. Most victims are forced to work in the sex trades, but others work in forced labor and domestic servitude. There is even a case where a group of teenage boys from Zambia were trafficked to Texas and forced to sing in a religious choir at shopping malls.
The State Senate passed a version of the bill on Feb. 26 for the third time. According to State Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Queens), the bill’s sponsor, the two chambers have differed on the penalties covered by the bill. In addition, the Senate has made changes to the types of social services made available to the victims of the crime.
Padavan said that, as in previous sessions, the Senate has acted first, and is awaiting a version to be passed by the Assembly in order to send the bill into conference.
Last year, the Assembly passed a version of the bill in the last week of the session. A compromise could not be reached in time.
Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) said the new Assembly version of the bill, which is sponsored by well over half the chamber, has a stronger amount of social services than the Senate version, and tweaks the penalties section to accommodate requests from the Legal Aid Society and District Attorneys Association. In addition, the social services section provides mental health, health care, immigration assistance and education programs to victims.
“I would like to see provisions that are tough we are dealing with slavery,” Dinowitz said. “We have the whole array of services for victims who are survivors.”
While the federal government offers assistance to victims, most services are offered to those who go through the process of becoming certified human trafficking victims. Dinowitz’s bill would provide a variety of services to victims during the certification process, including housing assistance.
A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said that while Silver supports the legislation, the bill is still pending in the Codes Committee and she does not know when the bill will be posted for a floor vote.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) has also expressed support for a human trafficking ban.
The human trafficking ban has become something of a cause célèbre in Manhattan, where a bi-partisan advocacy group has formed, with a rally in mid-February in Albany. Advocacy group members include activist Gloria Steinem, Karenna Gore Schiff, playwright Eve Ensler, Deputy Mayor Carol Robles-Roman, Republican fundraiser Georgette Mosbacher and actress Meryl Streep.
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