00:00 - The following program is sponsored in part by

00:03 - customer's bank.

00:13 - Representative Diana Sharon republican from Montgomery county

00:18 - how does the current law define

00:20 - human trafficking.

00:24 - Well good afternoon Larry thank you for having me

00:26 - so the current law defines

00:30 - an individual who engages in human trafficking

00:33 - by recruiting by harboring by transporting.

00:38 - Another individual into forced labor

00:40 - or

00:40 - Service.

00:42 - Is good it of a felony of the second degree and

00:46 - if the child happens to be under the age of eighteen

00:49 - and it can be guilty of trafficking in the first degree

00:53 - a representative can you give us an example or two of documented incidents

00:58 - involving human trafficking so we can better understand what's at stake here.

01:03 - Well

01:04 - to be honest Larry I think most of your viewers and most Pennsylvania's

01:09 - are very familiar with

01:11 - sexual trafficking rape of

01:13 - young men and women

01:15 - in the teenage years

01:17 - being a huge problem across

01:19 - not only our commonwealth

01:21 - but across the country

01:23 - and Pennsylvania

01:24 - really needs to be leading the charge on this issue

01:28 - and

01:29 - began

01:30 - with the formation of the bipartisan bicameral

01:34 - anti human trafficking caucus which

01:37 - probably a member to make a difference in this topic

01:40 - representative give our viewers an idea of just how big a problem this is in

01:44 - Pennsylvania you said it's big but

01:46 - try to elaborate on that.

01:48 - Well

01:49 - you know the the numbers.

01:51 - The numbers speak for themselves from the standpoint of.

01:55 - Sixty three percent

01:57 - of child trafficking victims surprisingly

02:00 - Larry are being trafficked by family members

02:03 - or acquaintances.

02:06 - You know

02:06 - loved ones

02:08 - and that is

02:09 - completely unacceptable these are the

02:11 - members in their lives that are supposed to be protecting them

02:15 - and.

02:16 - Not exposing them to additional harm

02:19 - but.

02:20 - Child trafficking has increased to thirty one percent.

02:25 - Since you know twenty twenty two

02:27 - and.

02:29 - Just in my district alone.

02:32 - Unfortunately there are

02:34 - numerous cases

02:35 - even

02:36 - survivors

02:38 - that have come forward

02:39 - to share their stories with me

02:41 - in my.

02:43 - District here in Montgomery county

02:45 - wanting to be a part of this movement to turn things around on this topic

02:49 - which age group is protected

02:51 - under the current law.

02:54 - So

02:55 - My bill if that's what you were asking me

02:58 - were going to get to your

02:59 - bill in just a minute representative but

03:01 - just tell me about the current group

03:04 - that's covered before we move on

03:06 - to the subgroup of infant traffic

03:08 - traffic

03:09 - into traffic so

03:10 - well title eighteen right

03:12 - allows us to focus on those under the teen

03:16 - two charged with second degree felonies.

03:20 - And can you tell us what the penalty is

03:24 - right now for human trafficking when someone is found guilty of this offense

03:27 - what kind of fine or penalty or or imprisonment

03:31 - are they coming up against potentially.

03:34 - Well and I want to make sure I want to make sure I clarify exactly.

03:39 - My stance on this.

03:42 - Anyone who is trafficked

03:44 - right

03:44 - can be

03:45 - any anyone that has trafficked

03:47 - the human trafficker can be held

03:50 - to a felony of the second degree

03:51 - anybody under the age of eighteen can be held

03:55 - to the felony of the first degree.

03:59 - And

04:00 - I think a lot of people.

04:02 - Don't realize

04:03 - that already we're doing so much to protect the the children at this young age.

04:10 - But more can be done

04:11 - because so many are slipping through the cracks.

04:15 - So now let's try to get into the sub group that you're addressing here

04:19 - which is

04:20 - infants specifically

04:22 - and can you describe for our viewers

04:25 - a situation

04:26 - that would

04:27 - typically

04:28 - involve

04:30 - infants.

04:31 - Well

04:32 - it's amazing.

04:34 - That the trafficking of infants and newborns

04:38 - is on the rise

04:40 - and

04:40 - sadly.

04:42 - The situations and the circumstances

04:45 - have

04:46 - young mothers

04:47 - already mothers really that can't afford

04:51 - to be able to raise that child or through trickery or anything else.

04:56 - Especially if they're being sexually trafficked.

05:00 - And get pregnant in the occurrence of these horrendous crimes

05:04 - that these infants can certainly be trafficked and Larry because an infant.

05:10 - Right cannot be forced into labor or service nor can an infant speak for themselves

05:15 - that is the actual loophole.

05:18 - In.

05:20 - The current law oh

05:21 - and

05:22 - where they get caught

05:24 - and

05:25 - it's actually a misdemeanor

05:27 - currently in

05:28 - law regarding an infant

05:30 - because of

05:31 - the language that we had to catch in that loophole to make sure.

05:35 - That they fall under that under the age of eighteen

05:38 - a first degree felony applies to an infj

05:41 - not

05:42 - a misdemeanor charge understood so what you're

05:45 - pushing for is changing the charge to a felony

05:49 - from the lower level of misdemeanor again for trafficking

05:53 - this specific group of infants right.

05:56 - That is correct.

05:58 - You are absolutely right spot on.

06:01 - The most vulnerable population right of all the children not that

06:05 - any age child is vulnerable

06:07 - but

06:08 - it was very important for us to catch that loophole in the existing language to be

06:13 - able to extend it and cover it to newborns and infants

06:16 - and speaking of existing language representative

06:19 - we both know how important languages in legislation so

06:23 - when we say infants here

06:24 - we have to have a certain age cut off

06:28 - in other words as far as your legislation is concerned

06:31 - what is an infant is

06:33 - as far as age range is concerned.

06:36 - Well

06:37 - many of them specify the newborns and I think.

06:41 - I think that newborns all the way up through you know

06:44 - the toddler age.

06:47 - It is pretty clear and then the children

06:50 - aspect of the children picks up after that.

06:54 - So

06:55 - To be honest though

06:56 - I think.

06:58 - From newborns

06:59 - to infants all the way up to the age of eighteen.

07:03 - The entire classification would be held to a first degree felony.

07:07 - So then if trafficking infants does become a first

07:11 - degree felony that would likely change the punishment

07:15 - for the

07:15 - offender are you able to

07:17 - elaborate on that.

07:19 - Well it would

07:21 - it would absolutely change the penalty for the

07:23 - offender being that it's a misdemeanor right now.

07:27 - And that's a

07:28 - that was why

07:30 - my bill actually Rose to the

07:33 - to the top of the

07:34 - top of the charts there for it to be the number one piece of legislation that the

07:38 - anti human trafficking caucus wanted to move.

07:42 - Because words do matter legislation does

07:45 - not and

07:47 - you know at this point

07:49 - we did pass it

07:50 - out of the house judiciary committee and.

07:53 - Once that happened

07:55 - it was merged into another house bill sixteen sixteen which passed the

08:01 - house floor two hundred two two and is now in the senate for consideration

08:06 - it's interesting though

08:07 - there's a lot of

08:08 - there's a lot of other issues in that house bill sixteen sixteen

08:12 - and the

08:13 - anti human trafficking caucus

08:15 - was very specific

08:17 - that they wanted anti

08:19 - human trafficking bills to

08:20 - to run clean

08:22 - so I'm kind of in limbo here wondering.

08:26 - What's going to happen

08:27 - since

08:28 - they want to bring and keep those issues to the forefront.

08:32 - And not have I guess

08:34 - other issues muddy the water when we want to get good solid legislation passed

08:39 - that is critical to Pennsylvania taking a stance.

08:43 - Addressing this horrific crime

08:45 - let's take a step backwards representative and tried to understand one important

08:50 - detail in your legislation I think it's important for our viewers to understand it.

08:54 - I understand that your bill has an exclusion for

08:57 - legal surrogacy

08:59 - or adoption

09:01 - elaborate on that and why why that is important.

09:06 - That's a very good question

09:07 - and

09:08 - in fact several of my legislators were actually questioning normal behavior

09:14 - and the bill does explicitly state it does

09:17 - not apply to adoption or legal circles see.

09:21 - Because those are those are issues

09:24 - that multiple people have to engage in multiple people have to consent to.

09:29 - You know there they have

09:31 - oversight

09:31 - you know

09:32 - they're they're also.

09:34 - Guarded by legislation.

09:37 - My bill does not cover ordinary care giving arrangements right so

09:43 - when people wanted to consider.

09:46 - Examples where someone could be

09:48 - charged with trafficking.

09:51 - For typical babysitting

09:52 - and you know that's just a ridiculous comparison and.

09:56 - Everyday care giving is is

09:58 - not

09:59 - specified

10:00 - the bill uses terms like.

10:03 - Trading bartering buying selling to imply a commercial transaction

10:08 - involving a child

10:10 - as the object of the exchange.

10:14 - In the terminology normally dealing in humanity

10:17 - often historically refer

10:18 - first to the trafficking of human beings.

10:22 - Let me take a moment to quote one of your colleagues

10:25 - in fact a

10:26 - representative Chris rabb

10:28 - was the only one who voted no on your bill and.

10:31 - Pen the Pennsylvania capitol star

10:34 - reported that he said that the bill blurs the line between organized exploitation

10:40 - and the desperate often har breaking choices made by

10:44 - vulnerable

10:45 - parents and he went on to say that they need support.

10:48 - Not a prison sentence and I think you've already

10:53 - touched on that and how would you like to respond.

10:57 - I am aware of

10:58 - representative Graham's comments I also.

11:02 - Watched a video of them to be quite honest with you

11:06 - and

11:07 - I think it's very important.

11:09 - For my colleagues

11:11 - to take the time to read the language of the bill

11:14 - and certainly if there is confusion then be a member of the judiciary committee like

11:19 - he is you should certainly have the legal team

11:22 - explain it to him.

11:24 - Many of the examples that he gave

11:26 - and

11:28 - to be quite frank were.

11:30 - I find ridiculous in nature

11:32 - when there are exclusions

11:34 - and that simple care giving examples.

11:38 - Do not apply.

11:40 - One should not.

11:42 - Be causing hysteria

11:44 - to think that this serious serious crime

11:48 - could be misconstrued

11:49 - and accidentally applied

11:51 - in the example that he gave

11:53 - having a new mother ask a family member

11:56 - to watch an infant and perhaps giving

12:00 - some money in order to help with the expenses.

12:03 - I mean.

12:04 - That comes down to the family babysitting to be honest with you

12:08 - last question last question representative

12:11 - you as you pointed out this bill

12:13 - was passed by the house judiciary committee

12:17 - so what happens to the bill next a few minutes ago you touched on it being merged

12:22 - with other trafficking bills is that right

12:25 - what could happen next.

12:27 - It was

12:28 - it was merged with other with other crimes

12:31 - that were sexual

12:32 - of

12:32 - You know crimes.

12:34 - Where it wasn't one hundred percent clean

12:37 - and justice.

12:38 - Human trafficking bill.

12:40 - I think the options to be honest

12:42 - the senate can run it as is the sun it can amended the sunny

12:46 - senate can send it back clean is just that an anti human trafficking bill.

12:51 - Will have to see what happens when we all go back to session

12:54 - and when you say clean that means free of amendments.

12:58 - Free of amendments and free of any other topic except.

13:02 - Anti human trafficking understood

13:04 - a representative Donna sherine republican from Montgomery county

13:08 - thank you for your time.

13:10 - Thank you appreciate it.

13:15 - Hmm.

13:27 - Hmm.