During the special session of the Tennessee General Assembly Tuesday, the issue of human trafficking took center stage.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday passed SB 7088, which as introduced would require the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) “to submit a report on child and human trafficking crimes and trends in this state, based upon data available to the bureau, as well as current programs and activities of the bureau’s human trafficking unit, to the governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and the speaker of the senate by December 1, 2023, and by each December 1 thereafter.”
Seven members of the committee voted in favor of the bill, none voted against it and two, State Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) and State Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol), abstained.
State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) (pictured above, left) introduced the anti-trafficking bill.
During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Johnson yielded to State Sen. Ken Yager (R-Kingston) (pictured above, right), the second line sponsor of the bill.
Yager immediately moved to put the bill before the committee.
Aaron Gulbransen, executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, served as a witness to bring the bill before the committee.
“I speak in support of this legislation, and again, I appreciate being before you,” he said. “We have modern day slavery in the United States that is known as child and human trafficking, and most of you have voted and championed legislation that combats it.”
Gulbransen urged swift action on behalf of the committee to pass the bill.
State Sen. Paul Rose (R-Covington) asked Gulbransen whether he knew how many victims of human trafficking were coming over the southern border.
Gulbransen said an estimated 150,000 unaccompanied minors could be victims of the practice, and noted that according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 13 percent of all human trafficking occurs at the southern border, but that 87 percent of human trafficking is conducted domestically.
Patrick Powell, a police director for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), was then called by Lamar as a witness. Lamar asked whether human trafficking statistics included statistics about labor trafficking.
Powell answered affirmatively.
The roll call vote was then taken, and the bill passed the committee.
The bill is expected to be voted upon Wednesday in the State Senate.
Earlier in the day, the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition held a press conference with lawmakers about the bill.
“I’m proud to stand here in common purpose with my colleagues in the General Assembly, as well as folks from the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition,” said Johnson. “I’ll tell you that in the short time they’ve activated their Tennessee chapter, they’ve made a significant difference in helping advance good, conservative policy, and I’m so proud to be working alongside them as we tackle this scourge in our society today.”
“You know, the problem with child and human sex trafficking is that it’s not a far away problem” Johnson said. “It’s something that’s in our communities right under our noses. It’s near where our children are sleeping and playing and going to school. In the United States, according to the TBI, on average every two minutes a child is bought or sold for sex. Human trafficking is a $150 billion a year industry, and it occurs in all 95 of our counties.”
Johnson then sent a clear message to human traffickers in the state.
“We are at war with you,” he said. “We are coming after you. We are going to end this in Tennessee.”
“For years on this issue, we’ve increased the penalties on human traffickers, we’ve increased the penalties on those who would abuse our children,” said State House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Sumner County). “But one of the things that we have not done enough of is drag this issue out into the light, have the TBI and law enforcement work together with the legislature to identify every single community where this is happening and then allocate needs towards the.”
Lamberth, who thanked the Faith and Freedom Coalition for its leadership on the issue, introduced the bill’s counterpart in the State House of Representatives.
“This is another step in the right direction,” Lamberth said. “During this special session I think there’s a lot of good that we can do, but identifying communities that have human trafficking happening right there and then leveraging resources to stop it, is something that is critical that we do right now. Any day that we delay on that are more children that are being trafficked.”
The Faith and Freedom Coalition released a statement on the issue Monday night:
As we’ve previously stated, SB7088 is a vital tool in the quest to eradicate child and human trafficking in the state of Tennessee. This bill requires the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to compile a yearly report on child and human trafficking crimes and trends, due by December 1st of every year.
This bill is the beginning of a robust slate of legislation that we will pursue for the January Regular Session where we aim to thrust a knife through the heart of the child and human trafficking industry in the state of Tennessee.
While a simple bill, it is a vital piece of legislation because it will help the General Assembly and Governor Lee consider additional critical steps in our mutual goal of the eradication of modern-day slavery.
Baselines and benchmarks are necessary in order to see the current picture as best we can and to measure progress in the future.
We consider child and human trafficking to be an extraordinary circumstance in our state and believe there is no waiting to be had during our mutual quest to save the children and women from this evil.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) also weighed in on the issue, promising to “fight like hell” at the federal level against human trafficking.
“We have a legal obligation to take action. We have a moral and ethical obligation to take action,” Ogles reportedly said. “But we have a biblical obligation to take action. We are to protect the least of these.”
Watch the Judiciary Committee meeting here:
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter.
Good start. In the regular session Crime Solutions need to be on the agenda.
But Crime is out of control in cities that have Soros funded prosecutors; ie, Nashville & Memphis.
We need a Mayor who respects the Constitution; a Council who will fund more Police Patrols; a Police Chief who has the courage to back his Police Officers & give them the leeway to dobproactive policing; and a Prosecutor who will Prosecute.
Exposing minors to porn, drag Queens & inappropriate sexual indoctrination should be a crime with consequences. It’s Child abuse. PERIOD.
We need a law that requires civics education in every grade. In High Schools, the US Constitution & The Federalist Papers, the State Constitution & Local City Charters should be studied in depth.
How can students appreciate the country we have if they don’t know how things are supposed to work at the Local, State & Federal levels? We should offer ROTC classes & GUN Saftey classes. There are many experts in TN who would be happy to teach students how to handle firearms responsibly including practice shooting targets & maybe School Competitions. Require Students to learn how to farm & other REAL LIFE SKILLS rather than a lot of junk, that will not help them become successful contributors to our State.
MANY OF OUR KIDS ARE LOST. THEY DONT UNDERSTAND THAT TO BE SUCCESSFUL, THERE MUST BE RULES & LAWS THAT MUST BE ADHERED TO WITH CLEAR CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT ADHERING. TEACHERS CANNOT TEACH EFECTIVELY IF THE ENVIRONMENT IS CHAOTIC.
No cell phones, etc. Personally, I believe students would benefit by having at High School level separate schools for girls & boys( according to sex at birth.)
There are teachers that are employed who do not need to be employed as a role model forcour kids
No pink or turquoise hair, no noserings, tattoos. We need mature adults who are with our children all day long.
I’m even ok with video cameras in the classroom, so that the Principals can observe from time to see if a teacher is performing adequately. That would allow for better evaluations, promotions or firing if a teacher refuses to follow protocol. Allow parents to visit & volunteer.
Bottom line our Schools are tasked with preparing our children with the skills to succeed in a real grown up world. Morals are a big part of that as well.
They are dancing around the real reason they are meeting right now. Making it sound like they are all about protecting the people but BOTTOM LINE is they are caving to the radicals and this will end up violating our God given rights, the TN Constitution and the US Constitution. They are a crafty bunch of RINO’s being led by the biggest RINO of all Bill Lee. FYI……many of the legislators sitting up there right now were THREATENED to either go along or they will get no bills passed, removed from committees and lose committee chairmanships. Now is the way we do business in Tennessee. If I were one of those legislators I would conducted an immediate Press Conference and exposed these scum bags. I would have told the public who made the threats and who was threatened but we have a weak kneed legislator from stem to stern that are politicians when what we need are statesmen…….people to stand strong with a spine of steel, with integrity to expose the corruption. The Executive branch of our government needs to keep their nose out of the business of the Legislative branch and the Legislative branch needs to tell the Governor and Lt. Governor to take a hike. If you get no bills passed all the better for TN. We have more than enough laws already. They take your committee Chairman seat away, so what? Sen. Mae Beavers knew what to do when she was given an alternative. She told me they can take my Chair seat away but only the voters can remove me from office. She was a woman of integrity and strength. Take note legislators……the campaign for your next election begins right at this special session and we have a ton of good PATRIOT STATESMEN lined up and ready to take your place. WE ARE WATCHING. WE ARE TAKING NAMES. WE WILL primary you all.
While this is an important subject, what does it have to do with the Covenant school shooting? Couldn’t this have waited until the next official session?
bidens failure to secure the border is a boon for human trafficking.
a vote for dems is a vote for human trafficking.