BILL NUMBER: S498
SPONSOR: FERNANDEZ
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to employee human
trafficking recognition training; and relating to authorizing the estab-
lishment of a standardized human trafficking recognition training
program for private transportation services
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill would necessitate that all public facing employees of private
transportation services would be required to complete a human-traffick-
ing recognition training program.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends the social services law to include that any private
transportation service must require all public facing employees to
undergo a human-trafficking recognition training program established by
the division of criminal justice services and the office of temporary
and disability assistance in consultation with the department of labor
and the New York State interagency task force on human trafficking.
Section 2: Provides that the commissioner of labor, the commissioner of
the division of criminal justice services and the commissioner of the
office of temporary and disability assistance shall together establish a
standardized human-trafficking recognition training program for employ-
ees of private transportation services in consultation with New York
Interagency Task Force on Human Trafficking. Provides issues that the
training will include.
Section 3: Establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Human trafficking is a hidden crime, and the first step to combating it
is to identify victims so they can be rescued and then help bring their
perpetrators to justice. Many human traffickers are reliant on mass
transportation to move their victims throughout the United States. The
U.S. Department of Transportation has recognized this issue and now
trains Amtrak employees in recognizing the indications that an individ-
ual is being trafficked.
Many traffickers use coercion to ensure their victims do not seek help,
necessitating the need for transportation employee training to look for
subtle indicators to determine if someone is a trafficking victim. Once
a potential victim has been identified, training will equip employees
with the knowledge to ask the right questions and understand the coer-
cive circumstances that may limit a victim's communication.
To further combat human trafficking, this bill expands the scope of
training received by employees of private sector transportation services
to include tools to recognize when a person might be a victim of traf-
ficking. Expanding this training to private sector transportation compa-
nies will raise awareness of human trafficking and subsequently save
lives.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S4375
2021-2022: S736
2019-2020: S5524 / A7747
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:,
This act shall take effect immediately.