JEFFERSON CITY — The House gave preliminary approval to a bill that aims to protect children and vulnerable persons from trafficking and exploitation.
House Bill 2273 is sponsored by Rep. Ed Lewis, R-Moberly, who said on the House floor that he wants to use this bill to save lives.
The bill allows victims of child sex trafficking up to 20 years after turning 21, or within three years of discovery, to recover damages from injury or illness caused by child sex trafficking. Additionally, it would increase criminal penalties for crimes related to child sex trafficking and broaden eligibility for expungement of prostitution convictions regardless of age at the time of the offense.
Rep. Jeff Myers, R-Warrenton, said he supported the bill, citing concerns that under the current law, the wrong people are charged.
Meyers recalled testimony from a victim of human trafficking: “She made the brave move to seek justice against her attacker,” Meyers said. “If the officer opened up a case, she was gonna have to be charged, since she was engaged in the act of prostitution.”
Myers explained that many people coerced into engaging in prostitution are not children, but there remains a power dynamic. This bill removes the requirement that a person be under the age of 18 to have their record expunged of prostitution charges in the instance that they were coerced.
“There is no accountability for those who drive the market, the buyer of the person. And I’ll say it again, the buyer of the person,” Myers said. “We now recognize that so often the burden of criminal prosecution has fallen on the victims.”
The bill would increase penalties for child-related sex crimes, including life imprisonment for second-degree child sex trafficking committed by a parent or guardian, and raise penalties for patronizing prostitution involving minors.
The bill garnered wide support from both sides of the aisle. Rep. Michael Johnson, D-Kansas City, said he encourages the body to support this bill.
“We need to make sure that our top priority is to continue to love and protect our children; this bill falls in line with exactly that,” Johnson said.
The bill would create a Committee on Sex and Human Trafficking Training to set and review statewide training standards annually until 2031. It would also replace the existing trafficking council with the new Statewide Council Against Adult Trafficking and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, and establish a dedicated Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Education and Awareness Fund.
“This (bill) helps people,” Myers said. “If it takes one person, one person out of the lifestyle of being a modern-day slave, and puts them back on their feet, and allows them to recover and to go on to live a life of happiness ... I would encourage the body to support that.”
