Human Trafficking - House Bill 1113

Houston was the first city in the country to have a mayor's office position dedicated solely to combatting human trafficking. The placement of this position directly within the mayor's office gives it more leverage to mobilize City departments and work with the community.

House Bill 1113 by Rep. Sarah Davis focuses on resources to survivors, providing services to what the Texas Attorney General's office estimates are 79,000 victims of youth and minor sex trafficking at any given time.

HB 1113 focuses on four actions to help identify and treat victims through best practices:

• HB 1113 seeks to address the public health need by requiring the Health and Human Services Commission to partner with a health-related institution of higher education to create a treatment program for trafficking victims which is innovative, effective, and scalable.
• Further, HB 1113 enables communities to identify specific deficiencies in their trafficking response efforts by creating a matching grant program for municipalities to perform a needs assessment to bolster the services their communities provide. This aspect comes directly from the City of Houston's award-winning program.
• To assist trauma-informed care within law enforcement, HB 1113 creates a matching grant program for law enforcement agencies to access training specific to identifying instances of sex trafficking.
• Lastly, HB 1113 ensures that taxpayer dollars are not being used to fund sex trafficking by instituting a ban on all contracts with vendors who knowingly support or promote sex trafficking.

Sex trafficking is a public health crisis that intersects with the criminal justice system, child protective services, and private business -- all areas in which the state and local government have significant involvement. While there have been various state-level initiatives to address human trafficking, local governments have the unique benefit of having an in-depth knowledge of their residents, business patterns, and vulnerable populations. House Bill 1113 gives them an advantage in identifying and responding to instances of human trafficking.

Passing the House 134 to 9, the bill was voted out of the Senate State Affairs Committee but died on the Intent Calendar. However, HB 1113 was successfully amended on to Senate Bill 20 by Senator Joan Huffman.