Oregon Senate passes bill to fight human trafficking

By Bill Graves, The Oregonian

February 19, 2010, 3:49PM

Faith Cathcart/The OregonianMary Lou Williams (right) and Debra Adams get information from representatives of Not For Sale, an anti-human trafficking group that took part a year ago in a forum sponsored by the Soroptimist group in Vancouver, Wash. The forum marked National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, but also discussed local domestic trafficking, the focus of a bill that passed today in the Oregon Senate.

The Oregon Senate today unanimously approved final passage of a bill aimed at increasing awareness of human trafficking and helping victims, who often are sexually-exploited youth.

House Bill 3623 will allow the Polaris Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that fights human trafficking, to include stickers bearing its help hotline number in the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's routine mailings to restaurants, bars and grocery stores.

Every business licensed by the commission would receive a sticker over the course of the year. They would be encouraged to post the stickers in prominent places where victims or people who know about victims might see the hotline number to call for help.

The bill, which also passed unanimously in the House, goes next to Gov. Ted Kulongoski for his signature.

Rep. Brent Barton, D-Clackamas, said he introduced the bill as a way to increase awareness and help trafficking victims at no cost to taxpayers or the state. A group called the Oregon Center for Christian Values has volunteered to stuff OLCC envelopes with the hotline stickers, he said.

"This was kind of a first step," he said. "The primary objective was to bring awareness to a serious issue. Most people think it is a foreign problem."

Nearly 300,000 youths each year are trafficked in the United States for sexual exploitation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

During a one-night, nationwide sting last year, police picked up seven underage girls involved in the sex trade and six adult pimps in Portland, more than in any other of the 29 targeted cities, except Seattle.

"We are one of the worst in the nation," said Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, on the Senate floor today. "People are abusing our young children."

 – Bill Graves