H.R. 1625 — Referred from Senate

IIB 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1625 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES May 23, 2017Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations AN ACT To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to include severe forms of trafficking in persons within the definition of transnational organized crime for purposes of the rewards program of the Department of State, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Targeted Rewards for the Global Eradication of Human Trafficking or the TARGET Act. 2. Findings; Sense of Congress (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Trafficking in persons is a major transnational crime that threatens United States national security and humanitarian interests. (2) Trafficking in persons is increasingly perpetrated by organized, sophisticated criminal enterprises. (3) Combating trafficking in persons requires a global approach to identifying and apprehending the world’s worst human trafficking rings. (b) Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that the Department of State’s rewards program is a powerful tool in combating sophisticated international crime and that the Department of State and Federal law enforcement should work in concert to offer rewards that target human traffickers who threaten United States national security and humanitarian interests by preying on the most vulnerable people around the world. 3. Rewards for Justice Paragraph (5) of section 36(k) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708(k)) is amended— (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking means; (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively, and moving such clauses, as so redesignated, two ems to the right; (3) by inserting before clause (i), as so redesignated, the following: (A) means— ; (4) in clause (ii), as so redesignated, by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and; and (5) by adding at the end following new subparagraph: (B) includes severe forms of trafficking in persons, as such term is defined in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102). . Passed the House of Representatives May 22, 2017.Karen L. Haas,Clerk