Senate package deals with a different transportation issue: Human trafficking

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Another Kohl-Welles proposal uses a direct approach to combat human trafficking.

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.

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.

Statewide task-force reports, a directory of services for trafficking victims and other state and federal information would be gathered for the website.

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Senate package deals with a different transportation issue: Human trafficking