Representative David Byrd; District 71 Capitol Hill Update

Human Trafficking Prevention Training: Public Chapter 842 – Under a new law, the Department of Correction, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, and the Department of Human Services must work with a nonprofit charitable organization to provide mandatory training to the appropriate personnel on the identification, intervention, prevention and treatment of human trafficking victims. The training must be selected by the Human Trafficking Advisory Council and administered annually starting in 2023. Effective January 1, 2023

Improving response to human trafficking victims: Public Chapter 984 – Requires the district attorneys general conference in collaboration with various state agencies to develop recommendations on the creation of multidisciplinary teams tasked with responding to child sex trafficking cases. The teams are intended to enhance services to victims of child sex trafficking, improve the coordination of investigations of such cases, and identify gaps in services.

Public Chapter 983 - Similarly, to ensure Tennessee has top-notch services for victims of sex trafficking, this law tasks the Department of Children’s Services and the Department of Human Services to identify existing resources and gaps in services for victims between the ages of 18 and 24.

Expanding human trafficking training in schools: Public Chapter 1021 (repeat from “K-12 Education”) - New laws will require all school employees to be trained to detect and prevent human trafficking of children. Previously, only teachers were required to be trained on the detection, intervention, prevention, and treatment of human trafficking. Under this new law, all personnel that aren’t contractors, including bus drivers, janitors or cafeteria workers, will be required to undergo the same human trafficking training as teachers every three years. Sometimes a bus driver or a janitor might be able to observe signs of abuse in students before a teacher. This new law ensures other staff will have the training to know how to identify abuse and report it. The training course would be online and last roughly 45 minutes to an hour. Became effective July 1, 2022

As always, I am truly humbled and honored to be your voice on Capitol Hill. If there is ever any issue I can assist with, please reach out to my office by calling 615-741-2190 or emailing me at [email protected]