Policy Advocacy

SB 473 | HB 579

Sponsors: Senators Shelly Hettleman and Sara Love
Status: In the Senate

Written Testimony

• Requires applicants for certain for-hire driver’s licenses and transportation network operator’s licenses to complete a human trafficking awareness training program as part of the license application process

• Stipulates that licensed taxicab drivers, for–hire drivers, and transportation
  network operators may not be held civilly or criminally liable for reporting or responding in good faith to a suspected incident of human trafficking

HB 771

Sponsors: Delegates Miller, Alston, Cullison, Guzzone, Hill, Lopez, McComas, Reilly, Rose, Turner, White Holland, and Woorman
Status: In the House

Written Testimony

• Requires healthcare providers seeking a license or certificate renewal from Maryland’s health occupations boards to complete human trafficking awareness training

HB 1348

Sponsors: Delegate Elizabeth Embry
Status: In the House

Written Testimony

• Authorizes mandated reporters to report suspected of cases of child sex or labor trafficking to the county’s Regional Navigator

SB 608 | HB 579

Sponsors: Senators Malcolm Augustine and William C. Smith
Status: PASSED

Written Testimony

• Establishes uniform procedural requirements relating to certifications for U Nonimmigrant visas, including shortening the time periods within which a certifying entity shall certify or decline; expanding the officials who may certify; and clarifying there is no statute of limitations on how soon after the criminal activities victims can request certification

• Establishes a statewide U Visa requirement governing how state certifying officials will respond to certification requests filed on behalf of immigrant victims

• Allows certification requests on victims’ behalf to be filed by victim advocates, attorneys, and other victim representatives

Maryland Senator Ben Cardin and Representative Glenn Ivey introduced the Continued Presence Improvement Act to reduce human trafficking survivors’ vulnerability to exploitation and to support law enforcement investigations and prosecutions of traffickers. Susan Esserman, Founder and CEO of the SAFE Center, has been working for a number of years with Senator Cardin’s office and the Department of Homeland Security Center for Countering Human Trafficking on this legislation. Representative Glenn Ivey is leading the companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.  

In July 2024, the Prince George’s County Council passed groundbreaking legislation to prohibit county contractors and subcontractors from engaging in sex and labor trafficking. This legislation makes Prince George’s County a leader among state and local governments by combatting trafficking through procurement laws. The SAFE Center proposed and developed this concept (with pro bono support from Steptoe LLP), and County Executive Alsobrooks brought legislation to the County Council where it passed unanimously.  

HB 508 | SB 550
Sponsors: Delegate Embry & Senator Sydnor

Status: PASSED

House Testimony
Senate Testimony

• Adds labor trafficking by a child’s parent or guardian to the list of conditions under which a local department of social services is authorized to ask the juvenile court in a child in need of assistance proceeding to find that reasonable efforts to reunify a child with the child’s parent or guardian are not required; and expands provisions of law relating to the Safe Harbor Regional Navigator Grant Program to apply to child victims of labor trafficking.

HB 575 | SB 471
Sponsors: Delegate Brooke Lierman, Senators Lee and Watson
Status: PASSED

Written Testimony

• Creates an accessible, non-discriminatory victim compensation process to support all victims of crime, or their family members left behind.

• Provides prompt and crucial financial support when it is needed most and removes unnecessary and arbitrary denials of financial relief for applicants for expenses incurred as a result of being a victim of crime.

HB 728

Sponsors: Delegates Cullison, Acevero, Boafo, Boyce, Charkoudian, Embry, Fair, Fennell, Fraser-Hidalgo, Guzzone, Harris, Healey, Kaiser, Kerr, Lehman, R. Lewis, J. Long, Lopez, Love, Martinez, McCaskill, Mireku-North, Palakovich Carr, Patterson, Queen, Ruth, Simpson, Solomon, Spiegel, Stein, Taveras, Terrasa, Turner, White Holland, Williams, Ziegler, Alston, Bagnall, Bhandari, Hill, S. Johnson, Pena-Melnyk, Rosenberg, and Woods

Status: PASSED

Written Testimony

• Requires the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange to establish and implement a Qualified Resident Enrollment Program to allow qualified residents, including undocumented individuals, to obtain health insurance coverage, and facilitate the enrollment of those qualified residents in health insurance plans.

• Requires children involved with the Department of Social Services to be screened for sex trafficking.

HB 297 | SB 292
Sponsors: Delegate Bartlett and Senator Waldstreicher
Status: PASSED

Written Testimony

• Decriminalizes prostitution for minors so that when law enforcement encounters a minor engaged in sex work, that child will be referred to DSS and the relevant Regional Navigator and not the Department of Juvenile Services. In addition, this bills protects minors from criminal prosecution or proceeded against for certain criminal or civil offences if the minor committed the offense as a direct result of sex trafficking.
• This bill establishes a process to halt open court cases involving minors when indicators of trafficking arise. The case will resume after a trafficking assessment is conducted with appropriate steps.

HB 588 | SB 366
Sponsors: Delegate Pena-Melnyk and Senator Lam
Status: DID NOT PROCEED

Written Testimony

• Alters the purpose of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Fund to include the provision of funding for the establishment and operation of the Qualified Resident Enrollment Program

• Requires the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange to establish and implement the Program to allow qualified residents to obtain coverage, facilitate the enrollment of qualified residents in qualified health plans, and, based on the availability of funds, provide premium assistance and cost-sharing reductions to qualified residents; etc.

HB 833 | SB 768
Sponsors: Delegate Brooke Lierman, Senators Lee and Watson
Status: DID NOT PROCEED

House Testimony
Senate Testimony

• Asserts that a minor may not be criminally prosecuted or proceeded against as a delinquent child for certain crimes or civil offenses if the minor committed the crime or civil offense as a direct result of sex trafficking.
• Ensures that minors involved in the juvenile justice system who are suspected to be victims of sex trafficking will have their court proceeding stayed while they are assessed for sex trafficking by the Regional Navigator. If the assessment finds the minor to be a victim of sex trafficking, their prosecution will be dismissed and they will be directed out of juvenile justice and into victim services.

SB 689 | HB 871

Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Jesse Pippy
Status: PASSED

Written Testimony

• Moves sex trafficking from the prostitution section of the code the crimes against a person section – further pushing the shift away from thinking that sex trafficking is just prostitution.
• Makes human trafficking a crime of violence, which extends the period before which a person is eligible for parole.
• Fixes several sections of the code to ensure that the definition of sex trafficking laws are clear and able to be enforced.

SB 690 | HB 734

Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Wanika Fisher
Status: PASSED

Written Testimony

• Criminalizes labor trafficking based on the collective experiences of other states and federal law.
• Resembles the Maryland sex trafficking statute by making labor trafficking a felony with a 25-year maximum penalty.
• Grants concurrent jurisdiction to the Attorney General, who will be able to independently investigate and prosecute labor trafficking.

SB 688 | HB 827

Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Brooke Lierman
Status: PASSED

Written Testimony

• Creates a Regional Navigator program which ensures that every sex trafficked individual aged under 25 will have access to immediate and local specialized services
• Requires law enforcement and the Departments of Social Services to refer cases of sex trafficking to a Regional Navigator.
• Requires children involved with the Department of Social Services to be screened for sex trafficking.