WHEREAS, January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month an important time to reflect on the resilience of trafficking survivors and recognize the efforts of those who work tirelessly to prevent and eliminate this inhumane and devastating form of abuse and exploitation; and

WHEREAS, Human trafficking refers to the commercial exploitation of people through force, fraud, or coercion. Policy and research focus on two forms of trafficking: labor and sex trafficking, which ensnare people in modern forms of slavery or debt servitude. Labor trafficking is broad in scope and includes forced work in any industry. Sex trafficking refers specifically to forced sex work; and

WHEREAS, In a 2017 report, the International Labour Organization found that on any given day in 2016, an estimated 25,000,000 people are subjected to human trafficking and forced labor. Considered one of the fastest growing illegal industries in the world, human trafficking generates an estimated $150,000,000,000 annually in illicit profits; and

WHEREAS, In late January 2023, a California statewide task force made hundreds of arrests in conjunction with National Human Trafficking Prevention Month; and

WHEREAS, The United States operates a national hotline through which people can report suspected trafficking or seek help. The hotline publishes data on human trafficking cases and trafficked people that have been identified from hotline reports; and

WHEREAS, The hotline data spanning 2015 through 2021, inclusive, indicate that the reported number of people experiencing trafficking nationwide rose from 12,000 in 2015 to more than 22,200 in 2019 and then fell to 16,700 in 2021. In California, these numbers peaked a year earlier and more modestly, so that California now accounts for smaller shares of trafficking cases and trafficked people. In 2015, 18 percent of trafficking cases and 15 percent of trafficked people were in California. By 2021, 13 percent of both cases and people were in California; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 9 in 10 reported human trafficking cases involve sex trafficking, and that share has risen. Between 2015 and 2021, inclusive, the share of human trafficking cases that involved sex trafficking grew from 87 percent to 89 percent in California and from 85 percent to 88 percent nationally; and

WHEREAS, Nearly half of people trafficked in California are United States citizens. However, the foreign-born share of trafficked people has risen dramatically. In California, the share of trafficked people born outside the United States rose from 36 percent in 2015 to 54 percent in 2021. Nationally, the share of trafficked people who were born elsewhere escalated from 38 percent to 62 percent; and

WHEREAS, The first federal law to address human trafficking was passed in 2000. California followed suit in 2005. Nearly all states now have laws prohibiting sex and labor trafficking; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly hereby designates the month of January 2025 as National Human Trafficking Awareness Month; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.

HR 5

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