Ohio Senate Unanimously Supports Human Trafficking Bill

Human trafficking bill passes, heads to Ohio's House

Provance, Jim. Columbus Blade Bureau Chief, Dec. 2, 2010. 

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio Senate Wednesday unanimously voted to crack down on one industry in which the state unfortunately has excelled in recent years, modern-day slavery.

"It is here . . .,'' Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), told her colleagues. "Thank you for putting on your glasses.''

Senate Bill 235 would make Ohio the 45th state to have a stand-alone crime of "trafficking in persons.'' The bill heads to the Ohio House, which has just four days scheduled before session's end.

Rep. Kathleen Chandler (D., Kent), who has pushed a similar bill in the lower chamber, said she hopes to usher the bill through the Democratic-controlled House without amendment so it can reach Gov. Ted Strickland's desk without having to return to the Senate.

The bill defines human trafficking as the act or attempt to "recruit, lure, entice, isolate, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, or maintain'' another person, knowing that the victim will be subjected to forced labor or compelled into prostitution or pornography.

The second-degree felony would carry up to eight years in prison. - WISH IT WAS LONGER

The bill updates state law to incorporate the act of trafficking into related crimes such as kidnapping and abduction.

For example, compelling prostitution, usually a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail, would be elevated to a first-degree felony carrying up to 10 years in jail, if the victim is under the age of 16.

It would be a second-degree felony if the victim is older than 16 but younger than 18.

The bill makes it a crime to destroy or confiscate government identification documents to coerce a trafficking victim's cooperation, a nod to the use of noncitizens as part of trafficking schemes.

Ms. Fedor, the bill's sponsor, pointed to the 2005 federal sting in Harrisburg, Pa. involving 177 girls and women as the point when the issue was brought home to her.

Seventy-seven victims came from the Toledo area; one victim was 10 years old.

She noted the irony that Ohio is still fighting slavery 150 years after then presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln gave a speech on Statehouse grounds against what was then a legal industry.

"Sadly in Ohio, Toledo, my district, is fourth in the nation behind much bigger cities--Miami, Las Vegas, Portland--in numbers of human-trafficking arrests and rescues,'' Ms. Fedor said.

"In passing this bill, we will be one step closer to eradicating this atrocity.''

Two years ago, Ohio created a human-trafficking specification to increase punishment for offenders when attached to another crime. The specification applies only to crimes associated with the sex trade.

The specification never has been used. Meanwhile, an attorney general's task force proposed by the same law has painted only a more disturbing picture of the practice's extent in Ohio, particularly in the sex trade.

Sen. Tim Grendell (R., Chesterland) sponsored the bill with Ms. Fedor after a raid of a local massage parlor using human-trafficking victims brought the issue home to them.

"When you can see human trafficking in Chester Township in Geauga County, it's a sad statement . . .,'' he said.