NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4967A
SPONSOR: Simotas TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring the
commissioner of social services to make available on its website a post-
er with information regarding the national human trafficking resource
center hotline
PURPOSE:
To amend the social services law, in relation to requiring certain
establishments to display a poster with information regarding the
national human trafficking resource center hotline.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Establishments where victims of human.trafficking are likely to travel
are required to post information regarding the national human traffick-
ing resource center hotline in a conspicuous place.
JUSTIFICATION:
Each year more than ten million people are trafficked -worldwide,
including more than one million children. Victims of human trafficking
are forced to engage in commercial sex, housework, farm work, and other
similar activities without compensation or an avenue of escape.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline was established
to provide help and services to victims of human trafficking. Awareness
of this valuable resource is lacking, particularly in the isolated
communities affected by human trafficking. Posting information regarding
the hotline in locations where victims of human trafficking are likely
to see it, including highway rest stops, bus stations, truck stops,
airports, adult or sexually oriented businesses and emergency rooms and
emergency care centers, supplies the victims with a chance to be saved
from this modern day slavery.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirteenth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4967--A
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 10, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMOTAS, HEVESI -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Social Services --
recommitted to the Committee on Social Services in accordance with
Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring the
commissioner of social services to make available on its website a
poster with information regarding the national human trafficking
resource center hotline
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section
2 483-ff to read as follows:
3 § 483-ff. National human trafficking resource center hotline poster.
4 (a) The commissioner of temporary and disability assistance shall make
5 publicly available on its website an electronic version of the National
6 Human Trafficking Resources Center (NHTRC) hotline poster, or create and
7 make available a variation thereof.
8 (b) The poster shall:
9 (1) be available for printing, at a minimum, in English and all other
10 languages that the NHTRC poster is available in;
11 (2) be at least eight and one-half inches by eleven inches in size;
12 and
13 (3) if created by the commissioner, include the following statement:
14 "If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity
15 and cannot leave - whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work,
16 or any other similar activity - call the National Human Trafficking
17 Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to access help and services.
18 Victims of human trafficking are eligible for protections and services
19 under United States and New York state law.
20 The hotline is:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07366-04-6
A. 4967--A 2
1 (1) Available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week;
2 (2) Toll free;
3 (3) Operated by a non-profit, non-governmental organization;
4 (4) Anonymous and confidential;
5 (5) Accessible in one hundred seventy languages; and
6 (6) Able to provide help, referral to services, training, and general
7 information."
8 (c) The commissioner shall consult with other state agencies and
9 organizations that he or she deems appropriate to encourage that such
10 posters are located in public places where trafficking victims may be
11 present, including but not limited to: highway rest stops, bus stations,
12 truck stops, airports, adult or sexually oriented businesses, hospitals
13 and urgent care centers. In consulting with such agencies and organiza-
14 tions, the commissioner shall advise that posters should be placed in
15 conspicuous locations near primary public entrances or other areas where
16 posters and notices are customarily posted on the premises.
17 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
18 have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately the
19 commissioner of temporary and disability assistance is authorized to
20 adopt any rules or regulations necessary to implement the provisions of
21 this act on such effective date.
