Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

       Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 374
       
       
        
       By Senator Osgood
       
       
       
       
       
       32-00358-24                                            2024374__
                      A bill to be entitled                      
       An act relating to human trafficking; amending s.
       787.06, F.S.; revising legislative intent and
       findings; revising the definition of the term
       “coercion”; authorizing the prosecution of specified
       offenses under the Florida RICO (Racketeer Influenced
       and Corrupt Organization) Act; requiring the
       Department of Education and Department of Health, in
       conjunction with the Statewide Council on Human
       Trafficking, to establish an awareness training
       program and community partnership on human
       trafficking, sex trafficking, labor trafficking, and
       child trafficking; requiring each state attorney’s
       office to document and maintain attendance and
       completion records of prosecutors’ training on the
       investigation and prosecution of human trafficking
       crimes for a certain period of time; requiring the
       court to order restitution upon a defendant’s
       conviction for specified offenses; providing
       restitution order requirements; defining terms;
       requiring each state attorney to adopt a pro
       prosecution policy for human trafficking offenses;
       amending s. 787.061, F.S.; conforming a cross
       reference; providing an effective date.
        
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

       Section 1. Section 787.06, Florida Statutes, is amended to
read:
       787.06 Human trafficking.—
       (1)(a) The Legislature finds that human trafficking is a
form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are
young children, teenagers, and adults. Approximately 800,000
Thousands of victims are trafficked annually across
international borders worldwide, including. Many of these
victims are trafficked into this state. Victims of human
trafficking also include citizens of the United States and those
persons trafficked domestically within the borders of the United
States. The Legislature finds that victims of human trafficking
are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of
sexual exploitation or forced labor.
       (b) The Legislature finds that while many victims of human
trafficking are forced to work in prostitution or the sexual
entertainment industry, trafficking also occurs in forms of
labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude or foreign labor
contracts in, restaurant work, janitorial work, sweatshop
factory work, and migrant agricultural work.
       (c) The Legislature finds that traffickers use various
techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved.
Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However,
the most frequently used practices are less obvious techniques
that include isolating victims from the public and family
members; confiscating passports, visas, permanent resident
cards, or other identification documents; using or threatening
to use violence toward victims or their families; telling
victims that they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration
violations if they contact authorities; and controlling the
victims’ funds by holding the money ostensibly for safekeeping.
       (d) The Legislature finds that human trafficking victims
are often charged with crimes due to their being trafficked,
which may include prostitution, drug-related offenses,
panhandling, theft, perjury, witness tampering, obstruction of
justice, peonage, conspiracy, and solicitation to the above
crimes and other related criminal activity.
       (e) It is the intent of the Legislature that the
perpetrators of human trafficking be penalized to the fullest
extent allowed by law for their illegal conduct and that the
victims of trafficking be protected and assisted by this state
and its agencies. In furtherance of this policy, it is the
intent of the Legislature that the state Supreme Court, The
Florida Bar, and relevant state agencies prepare and implement
human trafficking training programs in order that judges,
attorneys, law enforcement personnel, investigators, and others
are able to identify traffickers and victims of human
trafficking and direct victims to appropriate agencies for
assistance. It is the intent of the Legislature that the
Department of Children and Families and other state agencies
cooperate with other state and federal agencies to ensure that
victims of human trafficking can access legal services, social
services, and benefits to alleviate their plight, including the
expunction of criminal arrest records acquired as a result of
the victim’s trafficking.
       (2) As used in this section, the term:
       (a) “Coercion” means:
       1. Using or threatening to use physical force against any
person;
       2. Restraining, isolating, or confining or threatening to
restrain, isolate, or confine any person, regardless of whether
directly or by deceit, without lawful authority and against her
or his will;
       3. Using federal financial institutions or credit unions in
person or on e-commerce social platforms to wire, transfer, or
launder proceeds gained from human trafficking, or using lending
or other credit methods to establish a debt by any person when
labor or services are pledged as a security for the debt, if the
value of the labor or services as reasonably assessed is not
applied toward the liquidation of the debt, the length and
nature of the labor or services are not respectively limited and
defined;
       4. Destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating,
withholding, or possessing any actual or purported passport,
visa, permanent resident card, or other immigration document, or
any other actual or purported government identification
document, of any other person, regardless of whether directly or
by deceit;
       5. Causing or threatening to cause financial harm to any
person;
       6. Enticing or luring any person by fraud or deceit; or
       7. Providing a controlled substance as outlined in Schedule
I or Schedule II of s. 893.03 or using physical force or
coercion to make any person inject, ingest, or consume any
substance against her or his will for the purpose of
exploitation of that person.
       (b) “Commercial sexual activity” means any violation of
chapter 796 or an attempt to commit any such offense, and
includes sexually explicit performances and the production of
pornography.
       (c) “Financial harm” includes extortionate extension of
credit, loan sharking as defined in s. 687.071, or employment
contracts that violate the statute of frauds as provided in s.
725.01.
       (d) “Human trafficking” means transporting, soliciting,
recruiting, harboring, providing, enticing, maintaining,
purchasing, patronizing, procuring, or obtaining another person
for the purpose of exploitation of that person.
       (e) “Labor” means work of economic or financial value.
       (f) “Maintain” means, in relation to labor or services, to
secure or make possible continued performance thereof,
regardless of any initial agreement on the part of the victim to
perform such type service.
       (g) “Obtain” means, in relation to labor, commercial sexual
activity, or services, to receive, take possession of, or take
custody of another person or secure performance thereof.
       (h) “Services” means any act committed at the behest of,
under the supervision of, or for the benefit of another. The
term includes, but is not limited to, forced marriage,
servitude, or the removal of organs.
       (i) “Sexually explicit performance” means an act or a show,
whether public or private, that is live, photographed, recorded,
or videotaped and intended to arouse or satisfy the sexual
desires or appeal to the prurient interest.
       (j) “Unauthorized alien” means an alien who is not
authorized under federal law to be employed in the United
States, as provided in 8 U.S.C. s. 1324a(h)(3). The term shall
be interpreted consistently with that section and any applicable
federal rules or regulations.
       (k) “Venture” means any group of two or more individuals
associated in fact, regardless of whether considered or not a
legal entity.
       (3) Any person who knowingly, or in reckless disregard of
the facts, engages in human trafficking, or attempts to engage
in human trafficking, or benefits financially by receiving
anything of value from participation in a venture that,
regardless of whether in concert or separately, has subjected a
person to human trafficking:
       (a)1. For labor or services of any child younger than 18
years of age or an adult believed by the person to be a child
younger than 18 years of age commits a felony of the first
degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
775.084.
       2. Using coercion for labor or services of an adult commits
a felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       (b) Using coercion for commercial sexual activity of an
adult commits a felony of the first degree, punishable as
provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       (c)1. For labor or services of any child younger than 18
years of age or an adult believed by the person to be a child
younger than 18 years of age who is an unauthorized alien
commits a felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in
s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       2. Using coercion for labor or services of an adult who is
an unauthorized alien commits a felony of the first degree,
punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       (d) Using coercion for commercial sexual activity of an
adult who is an unauthorized alien commits a felony of the first
degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
775.084.
       (e)1. For labor or services who does so by the transfer or
transport of any child younger than 18 years of age or an adult
believed by the person to be a child younger than 18 years of
age from outside this state to within this state commits a
felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       2. Using coercion for labor or services who does so by the
transfer or transport of an adult from outside this state to
within this state commits a felony of the first degree,
punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       (f)1. For commercial sexual activity who does so by the
transfer or transport of any child younger than 18 years of age
or an adult believed by the person to be a child younger than 18
years of age from outside this state to within this state
commits a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment
for a term of years not exceeding life, or as provided in s.
775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       2. Using coercion for commercial sexual activity who does
so by the transfer or transport of an adult from outside this
state to within this state commits a felony of the first degree,
punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
       (g) For commercial sexual activity in which any child
younger than 18 years of age or an adult believed by the person
to be a child younger than 18 years of age, or in which any
person who is mentally defective or mentally incapacitated as
those terms are defined in s. 794.011(1), is involved commits a
life felony, punishable as provided in s. 775.082(3)(a)6., s.
775.083, or s. 775.084.

For each instance of human trafficking of any individual under
this subsection, a separate crime is committed and a separate
punishment is authorized.
       (4)(a) Any parent, legal guardian, or other person having
custody or control of a minor who sells or otherwise transfers
custody or control of such minor, or offers to sell or otherwise
transfer custody of such minor, with knowledge or in reckless
disregard of the fact that, as a consequence of the sale or
transfer, the minor will be subject to human trafficking commits
a life felony, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083,
or s. 775.084.
       (b) Any person who, for the purpose of committing or
facilitating an offense under this section, permanently brands,
or directs to be branded, a victim of an offense under this
section commits a second degree felony, punishable as provided
in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. For purposes of this
subsection, the term “permanently branded” means a mark on the
individual’s body that, if it can be removed or repaired at all,
can only be removed or repaired by surgical means, laser
treatment, or other medical procedure.
       (c) Any act to acquire, control, or operate a business or
an enterprise for income through bribery, money laundering,
obstructing justice or a criminal investigation, extortion,
dealing in obscene matter, or drug crimes that result from any
activity of human trafficking or labor trafficking crimes may be
prosecuted as a Florida RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organization) Act offense pursuant to chapter 895.
       1. Any business entity that knowingly aids or is jointly
involved in, or which reasonably should have known it was aiding
or involved in, trafficking of persons for sex or labor is
civilly liable for a fine of up to $1 million and an additional
$1 million for each child found to be subject to sex trafficking
or labor trafficking.
       2. Any business owner who uses her or his business to
facilitate sex trafficking or labor trafficking crimes is
subject to a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, and any
business license of such business is subject to revocation.
       (5) The Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission
shall establish standards for basic and advanced training
programs for law enforcement officers to identify, investigate,
and prevent in the subjects of investigating and preventing
human trafficking crimes. Every basic skills course required for
law enforcement officers to obtain initial certification must
include training on human trafficking crime prevention and
investigation.
       (6) The Department of Education and Department of Health,
in conjunction with the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking,
shall establish an awareness training program and community
partnership on human trafficking, sex trafficking, labor
trafficking, and child trafficking to provide educators,
students, and social service centers with trauma-informed
practices, safety plans, campus and Internet security, risks,
indicators, presentations, and resources that are age
appropriate for students in grades K-12 and nurses in
educational facilities.
       (7) Each state attorney shall develop standards of
instruction for prosecutors to receive training on the
investigation and prosecution of human trafficking crimes and
shall provide for periodic and timely instruction, of which each
respective state attorney’s office shall document and maintain
attendance and completion records by prosecutors for a period of
7 years to ensure compliance.
       (8)(7) Any real property or personal property that was
used, attempted to be used, or intended to be used in violation
of this section may be seized and shall be forfeited as provided
by the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act. After satisfying any
liens on the property, the remaining proceeds from the sale of
any property seized under this section and owned by a defendant
convicted of a violation of this section must first be allocated
to pay any order of restitution of a human trafficking victim in
the criminal case for which the owner was convicted. If there
are multiple human trafficking victims in the criminal case, the
remaining proceeds must be allocated equally among the victims
to pay restitution. If the proceeds are sufficient to pay any
such order of restitution, any remaining proceeds must be
disbursed as required by s. 932.7055(5)-(9).
       (9) Notwithstanding any other law, and in addition to any
other civil or criminal penalties authorized by law, the court
shall order restitution upon a defen