| 1 | 1 | | By: Hunter (Senate Sponsor - Van de Putte) H.C.R. No. 57 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2013; |
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| 3 | 3 | | May 2, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal |
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| 4 | 4 | | Justice; May 21, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote: |
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| 5 | 5 | | Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 21, 2013, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 9 | 9 | | WHEREAS, Human trafficking is a serious and escalating |
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| 10 | 10 | | problem in the United States, particularly in Texas; and |
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| 11 | 11 | | WHEREAS, A multibillion-dollar business, human trafficking |
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| 12 | 12 | | is second only to drug dealing in criminal profitability and is the |
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| 13 | 13 | | fastest-growing illegal enterprise, according to the Polaris |
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| 14 | 14 | | Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that maintains the |
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| 15 | 15 | | National Human Trafficking Resource Center; it is estimated that as |
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| 16 | 16 | | many as 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United |
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| 17 | 17 | | States each year and that the number of U.S. citizens trafficked |
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| 18 | 18 | | within our own borders is even higher, with more than 200,000 |
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| 19 | 19 | | American children at high risk for trafficking into the sex |
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| 20 | 20 | | industry; and |
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| 21 | 21 | | WHEREAS, Texas is a major point of illegal entry into the |
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| 22 | 22 | | United States; its large geographic size along with its |
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| 23 | 23 | | demographics make the Lone Star State appealing to traffickers, who |
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| 24 | 24 | | endeavor to blend into the population while exploiting their |
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| 25 | 25 | | victims in forced labor and prostitution; and |
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| 26 | 26 | | WHEREAS, Although Texas has been recognized as a leader in |
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| 27 | 27 | | the effort to end the scourge of human trafficking, eradication of |
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| 28 | 28 | | this modern-day form of slavery is a difficult challenge, and every |
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| 29 | 29 | | means of combating it should be explored; now, therefore, be it |
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| 30 | 30 | | RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 31 | 31 | | hereby request the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house |
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| 32 | 32 | | of representatives to create a joint interim committee to study the |
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| 33 | 33 | | problem of human trafficking in Texas; and, be it further |
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| 34 | 34 | | RESOLVED, That the committee submit a full report, including |
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| 35 | 35 | | findings and recommendations, to the 84th Texas Legislature when it |
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| 36 | 36 | | convenes in January 2015. |
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| 37 | 37 | | * * * * * |
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