Informed by our direct engagement with survivors, the SAFE Center works at the local, state, and federal levels to advocate for policies that expand rights and services for survivors and seek to prevent trafficking. Through written testimony in the Maryland State Legislature, the SAFE Center advocates for increased access to services, enhanced legal protections, and support systems that help survivors rebuild their lives.
Policy Advocacy
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.
At the federal level, Maryland Senator Ben Cardin and Representative Glenn Ivey introduced the Continued Presence Improvement Act this summer 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.
State Legislation
Children – Labor Trafficking
HB 508|SB 550
Sponsors: Delegate Embry & Senator Sydnor
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.
Criminal Procedure – Victim Compensation – Alterations
HB 575|SB 471
Sponsors:Delegate Brooke Lierman, Senators Lee and Watson
Status: Did not proceed
- 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.
Qualified Resident Enrollment Program – Access to Care Act
HB 728
- 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.
Safe Harbor and Service Response
HB297|SB292
Sponsors: Delegate Bartlett and Senator Waldstreicher
Status: PASSED
- 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.
Health Insurance – Access to Care Act
HB588|SB366
Sponsors: Delegate Pena-Melnyk and Senator Lam
Status: DID NOT PROCEED
- 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.
Victims of Child Sex Trafficking – Safe Harbor and Service Response
HB833|SB768
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.
Criminal Law – Human Trafficking & Prostitution Offenses
SB689/HB871
Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Jesse Pippy
Status: PASSED
- 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.
Anti-Exploitation Act of 2019
SB690/HB734
Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Wanika Fisher
Status: PASSED
- 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.
Child Sex Trafficking Screening & Services Act of 2019
SB688/HB827
Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Brooke Lierman
Status: PASSED
- 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.
- 2024
-
Children – Labor Trafficking
HB 508|SB 550
Sponsors: Delegate Embry & Senator SydnorHouse 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.
Criminal Procedure – Victim Compensation – Alterations
HB 575|SB 471
Sponsors:Delegate Brooke Lierman, Senators Lee and Watson
Status: Did not proceed- 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.
Qualified Resident Enrollment Program – Access to Care Act
HB 728
- 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.
- 2023
-
Safe Harbor and Service Response
HB297|SB292
Sponsors: Delegate Bartlett and Senator Waldstreicher
Status: PASSED- 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.
Health Insurance – Access to Care Act
HB588|SB366
Sponsors: Delegate Pena-Melnyk and Senator Lam
Status: DID NOT PROCEED- 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.
- 2022
-
Victims of Child Sex Trafficking – Safe Harbor and Service Response
HB833|SB768
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.
- 2019
-
Criminal Law – Human Trafficking & Prostitution Offenses
SB689/HB871
Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Jesse Pippy
Status: PASSED- 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.
Anti-Exploitation Act of 2019
SB690/HB734
Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Wanika Fisher
Status: PASSED- 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.
Child Sex Trafficking Screening & Services Act of 2019
SB688/HB827
Sponsors: Senator Susan Lee and Delegate Brooke Lierman
Status: PASSED- 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.
