SB2041

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. According to a 2018 report published by Arizona State University, an estimated one in every eleven adult males with an 808 area code in the State is an online sex shopper. When nonresidents are included, the report estimated that 74,362 sex shoppers are potentially active in the islands. Moreover, IMUAlliance, a local service provider for victims and survivors of sexual servitude, estimates that one hundred fifty establishments in the State participate in the commercial sex trade, making such establishments a high risk for sex trafficking.

The legislature further finds that combating sex trafficking requires a commitment by the visitor industry. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline website, hotels and motels are a common venue for sex trafficking due to the ease of access for buyers, ability to pay in cash and maintain secrecy through finances, and lack of facility maintenance or upkeep expenses. Hotels and other transient accommodations are used by pimps, traffickers, and sex buyers to facilitate sexual exploitation. Ensuring that contact information for the National Human Trafficking Resource Center is available to guests, staff, and potential victims in transient accommodations is one way to improve Hawaii's visitor industry response to helping victims of sexual exploitation.

The legislature also finds that strengthening the department of labor and industrial relations' enforcement mechanism by increasing penalties, and earmarking these penalties as financial resources for the human trafficking victim services fund, will serve to better combat sex trafficking in all high-risk establishments.

The purpose of this Act is to protect the State's visitor industry from facilitating sex trafficking in high-risk establishments by:

(1) Requiring transient accommodations operators to post National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline information in prominent locations accessible to employees and the public;

(2) Strengthening the prohibition and penalty against all high-risk establishment employers who fail to comply with posting requirements;

(3) Providing that penalties collected be deposited into the human trafficking victim services fund; and

(4) Allowing the department of labor and industrial relations to contract with state or county departments or agencies to implement or enforce posting requirements.

SECTION 2. Section 371-20, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

"§371-20 National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline; posting requirement; penalty. (a) Every employer specified in subsection (b) shall post and keep posted in a [~~place readily accessible to individuals in the employer's employ~~] prominent location that is accessible to individuals in the employer's employ and members of the public, a poster no smaller than eight and one-half inches by eleven inches in size that states the following:

"If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave – whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, or any other similar activity – call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to access help and services.

Victims of human trafficking are protected under United States and Hawaii law.

The hotline is:

(1) Available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week;

(2) Toll-free;

(3) Operated by a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization;

(4) Anonymous and confidential;

(5) Accessible in one hundred seventy languages; and

(6) Able to provide help, referral to services, training, and general information."

(b) For purposes of this section, "employer" means any person that:

(1) Holds a class 5 or class 11 liquor license pursuant to section 281-31;

(2) Maintains a massage therapy establishment that employs [~~five~~] three or more people; [or]

(3) Employs one or more erotic or nude massagers or exotic or nude dancers as defined in section 712-1210[.]; or

(4) Is a transient accommodations operator. As used in this paragraph, "transient accommodations" and "operator" shall have the same meanings as in section 237D-1.

(c) A poster required under subsection (a) shall be printed in English and the director may supplement the required information.

(d) The department shall make available on its public website an electronic version of the poster required by subsection (a) for employers to print.

(e) Any employer who [~~wilfully and knowingly~~] fails, neglects, or refuses to perform any act required by this section shall be fined [~~not more than $100~~] $500 for the first offense and $1,000 for each separate offense[.] thereafter. Each day the violation continues shall constitute a separate offense. All penalties paid and interest accrued on funds collected under this subsection shall be deposited in the human trafficking victim services fund pursuant to section 706-650.5. Any action taken to impose or collect the penalty provided for in this subsection shall be considered a civil action.

(f) The department may contract with any state or county department or agency, including the liquor commission or liquor control adjudication board of each county, for the purposes of implementing or enforcing this section."

SECTION 3. Section 706-650.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (4) to read as follows:

"(4) All fees paid and interest accrued on funds collected pursuant to this section, in addition to all penalties paid and interest accrued under section 371-20, shall be deposited into the human trafficking victim services fund."

SECTION 4. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2041
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII