By: Hunter (Senate Sponsor - Van de Putte) H.C.R. No. 68
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 5, 2011;
April 20, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
Criminal Justice; May 12, 2011, reported favorably by the
following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 12, 2011, sent to printer.)
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Human trafficking is a serious and escalating
problem in the United States, particularly in Texas; and
WHEREAS, A multibillion-dollar business, human trafficking
is second only to drug dealing in criminal profitability and is the
fastest-growing illegal enterprise, according to the Polaris
Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that maintains the
National Human Trafficking Resource Center; it is estimated that
18,000 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each
year and that the number of U.S. citizens trafficked within our own
borders is even higher, with more than 200,000 American children at
high risk for trafficking into the sex industry; and
WHEREAS, Texas is a major point of illegal entry into the
United States; its large geographic size along with its
demographics make the Lone Star State appealing to traffickers, who
endeavor to blend into the population while exploiting their
victims in forced labor and prostitution; and
WHEREAS, Although Texas has been recognized as a leader in
the effort to end the scourge of human trafficking, eradication of
this modern-day form of slavery is a difficult challenge, and every
means of combating it should be explored; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby request the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house
of representatives to create a joint interim committee to study the
problem of human trafficking in Texas; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That the committee submit a full report, including
findings and recommendations, to the 83rd Texas Legislature when it
convenes in January 2013.
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