The House Education and Employment Committee favored a bill Tuesday that would require public schools and charter schools to train its employees to identify potential students victimized by human trafficking and take necessary action.
Rep. Erika Booth (R-St. Cloud) explained her bill (HB 1237) to the committee. The legislation is also co-sponsored by Rep. Tobin "Toby" Overdorf (R-Palm City).
"This bill seeks to ensure that public school employees are adequately trained to identify potential victims of human trafficking within a school environment and respond in an appropriate manner," Booth said. "Currently, schools are required to provide instruction regarding human trafficking to students grades K-12. However, there is no mandatory training for school personnel."
"This bill requires annual training to be provided to teachers, other administrative personnel, school nurses, doctors, and other adults in a public school setting. Equipping school personnel to identify, report, and respond to human trafficking will help protect our children and foster a safer school environment," Booth added.
The bill was also amended to include public charter schools. The amendment passed unanimously.
According to the statistics from World Population Review, Florida isĀ ranked seventh in the nation in human trafficking cases with 3.4 per 100,0000 people. The state is just behind California and just ahead of Texas in human trafficking cases among states with large populations.
Rep. Overdorf, in a quick closing, thanked Booth for doing a great job on the bill.
Sen. Bryan Avila sponsored an identical Senate version (SB 444) to the bill. His legislation is also co-sponsored by Sens. Jay Collins (R-Tampa) and Clay Yarborough (R-Jacksonville).
SB 444 has two committee stops left.
If fully passed by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov Ron DeSantis into law, HB 1237/SB 444 would take effect on July 1.
