Brown Ushers Committee Passage of Bill to Ramp up Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts by Financial Sector, Treasury Department

Statement

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) -- ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs -- this week helped usher legislation through the Committee to ramp up efforts within the financial sector and at the Treasury Department to combat human trafficking.

"We know human traffickers rely on access to financial institutions not only to move money derived from this heinous crime, but to profit off it," said Brown. "Financial institutions and our Treasury Department have a role to play in combating trafficking, and they need enhanced tools and support to be stronger partners to law enforcement in these efforts."

The provisions passed as part of a larger package that Brown drafted to strengthen sanctions on North Korea, named after Ohioan Otto Warmbier. The bill, which now must be voted on by the full Senate, includes a section dedicated to cracking down on human trafficking, including provisions to:

Strengthen financial tools to combat human trafficking. The bill would require the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to analyze trafficking-related anti-money laundering efforts by the government and financial institutions, and make legislative, administrative, and other recommendations to strengthen anti-laundering efforts related to human trafficking.

Review and enhance training and examinations and procedures to improve the surveillance capabilities of anti-money laundering efforts and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) programs related to trafficking.
Enhance coordination between the Treasury Department and other agencies and law enforcement entities to track financing of human trafficking activity. The bill adds tracking this illicit funding to the functions of the Department of Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (OTFI), and requires the Treasury Secretary to designate an office within OTFI to coordinate efforts to fight the illicit financing of human trafficking with other offices within Treasury, state and local law enforcement, foreign governments, and the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking.

These provisions build on Brown's previous efforts to support survivors of human trafficking. In June, the Senate passed the Abolish Human Trafficking Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Brown to support survivors of human trafficking and help local, state, and national law enforcement on the front lines of the fight against human trafficking. The legislation creates a Human Trafficking Coordinator in each of the country's federal judicial districts and a National Human Trafficking Coordinator at the Department of Justice, based on a bill Brown introduced earlier this year.

Brown is also cosponsoring U.S. Sen. Rob Portman's (R-OH) bipartisan bill to secure justice for victims of sex trafficking, and ensure that websites like Backpage.com, which knowingly facilitate sex trafficking, can be held liable and brought to justice.

The bipartisan Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act would clarify Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to ensure that websites that knowingly facilitate sex trafficking can be held liable so that victims can get justice. This narrowly-crafted legislation offers three reforms to help sex trafficking victims.

Source