Three Washington State Senate bills aim to increase awareness of human trafficking and help agencies coordinate efforts to confront the problem. <\/p>\n
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, in her proposal would require anti-trafficking information to be posted in all public restrooms, including in private businesses. <\/p>\n
A notice would be created by the states Office of Crime Victims Advocacy with input from businesses and anti-trafficking advocacy groups. Costs of printing and distributing the notices to businesses, under Senate Bill 5883, would be covered by anti-trafficking non-profit organizations. <\/p>\n
The posters would list a hotline number for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, which provides mental health, counseling, legal and referral services for victims. <\/p>\n
Stephanie Martinez, advocacy manager at Seattle Against Slavery, said Washington is among the states with the highest per-capita call volume, citing the national resource centers statistics. In 2013 the center received 500 calls from within the state of Washington. <\/p>\n
Posters with online numbers are one of the top 10 ways people call the center for services, she said. Mandatory-post laws and targeted campaigns significantly affect increasing call volume. <\/p>\n
Another Kohl-Welles proposal uses a direct approach to combat human trafficking. <\/p>\n
Under Senate Bill 5884, Washingtons Office of Crime Victims Advocacy would create a websiteWashington State Clearinghouse on Human Traffickingto gather information on anti-trafficking efforts around the state. <\/p>\n
Its been recommended that we have a single point in state government to coordinate everything because we have many new bills that are being directed to various agencies in our state, Kohl-Welles said. <\/p>\n
Statewide task-force reports, a directory of services for trafficking victims and other state and federal information would be gathered for the website. <\/p>\n
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Go here to read the rest: Three Washington State Senate bills aim to increase awareness of human trafficking and help agencies coordinate efforts to confront the problem. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, in her proposal would require anti-trafficking information to be posted in all public restrooms, including in private businesses. Continue reading
\nSenate package deals with a different transportation issue: Human trafficking<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"