Proposals to combat Georgia’s child sex trafficking problem passed out of a Senate committee Monday after a victim testified publicly for the first time about her plight and received support from religious, law enforcement and child advocates.
“I am a survivor,” said Rachel, who has inspired lawmakers to nickname their legislation the “Safe Harbor/Rachel’s Act.” Now in college, she says she was 17 when a sex trafficker befriended her on social media and then deceived her.
“I was afraid to breathe, I was afraid to rest, I was afraid to trust, I was afraid to be seen, I was afraid to dream,” said Rachel, who declined to give her last name and current age. “I hid in my own skin. Today, I see myself in a new light.”
That turnaround, Rachel said, came as a result of extensive counseling and support services — the very kind the legislation aims to provide statewide.
The proposal would establish a new Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund, which would get money through new $2,500 fines on convicted traffickers and an annual $5,000 fee on adult entertainment establishments. The money would then pay for physical and mental health care, housing, education, job training, child care, legal help and other services for victims.
It has other components, including a mandate that convicted traffickers be listed on the state sex offender registry — something that doesn’t happen now. Among those speaking on behalf of the bill were Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan; Frank Mulcahy, the executive director of the Georgia Catholic Conference; Rusi Patel of the Georgia Municipal Association; and Georgia Care’s Heather Stockdale.
Only one speaker from among nine who testified expressed concerns about the effort. Tanya Ditty, the state director for Concerned Women for America of Georgia, said she worried it could open the door to federal grants that could lead to decriminalization of the act of sex trafficking — including the prosecution of victims.
Senate Bill 8, sponsored by state Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, sets out the parameters of the proposal. Unterman's companion piece, Senate Resolution 7, would ask voters statewide for permission to create the new state fund and use it solely to help trafficking victims — because SR 7 proposes amending the Georgia Constitution, it requires a higher bar to pass the Legislature, including a two-thirds majority in both chambers.
Both measures passed 8-1 out of the Senate Judiciary Non-Civil Committee. Unterman is working in concert with House members in support of the legislation with the goal of eventually crafting a compromise that wins passage. The House version of the legislation is House Bill 244.
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