By: Hunter (Senate Sponsor - Van de Putte) H.C.R. No. 57
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 29, 2013;
May 2, 2013, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 21, 2013, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 21, 2013, 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 as
many as 17,500 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 83rd 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 84th Texas Legislature when it
convenes in January 2015.
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