Senate Bill 235, introduced this week in the Ohio General Assembly, would create a stand-alone felony for human trafficking by creating a Human Trafficking definition, and designating the offense of trafficking in persons a second-degree felony.

"Ohio needs legislation that will attack human trafficking criminal enterprises and put them away for a very long time," said Sen. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, one of the bill's sponsors.

"Children are trafficked within Ohio's borders every year because the traffickers know our laws are weak. It is about time Ohio joined the 43 other states with human trafficking laws and let traffickers know our children are not for sale."

Under SB 235, human trafficking is specifically defined, and includes knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the person (who is trafficked) will be subjected to involuntary servitude or be compelled to engage in sexual activity for hire, or engage in a performance that is obscene or sexually oriented. Violators would be guilty of a second-degree felony, Fedor said.

Fedor said Ohio is one of the few states that lacks felony-level language for human trafficking, which is in line with federal standards - The Trafficking in Victims Protection Act - and the Department of Justice.

The TVPA was established in 2000 to combat human trafficking, and is an effective tool for the federal government, she explained.

"Ohio must be in line with the federal officials on this issue because federal officials have been successful in apprehending and prosecuting traffickers with their statute. Ohio has not," said Fedor.

Currently, Ohio law includes a specification or "enhancement" for human trafficking, said Fedor. However, she said, the state law has been unsuccessful because it requires two underlying felonies named at the indictment - which is difficult to prove.

"Most of Ohio's cases are referred to the federal government because our specification is too hard to prove and the federal statute carries stiffer penalties," Fedor said, adding the consequentially, human traffickers are flourishing in Ohio due to its relatively lenient trafficking laws.

"Hundreds of children are trafficked to and from Ohio each year. ...Toledo is ranked fourth in the nation for trafficking cases," she said, adding that the only FBI task force in Ohio is located in Toledo, and the FBI has named Toledo a top recruitment city for child sex trafficking victims for the last several years.

Fedor said Columbus also has a high number of forced human labor cases, according to a Rand Corp. report.

Additionally, a report by the Research and Analysis Sub-Committee of the Trafficking in Persons Study Commission reported that more than 1,000 children are trafficked in Ohio each year, and another 2,879 children who are "runaways, throwaways or homeless" are at-risk for being trafficked due to their vulnerability. The report can be found online at www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov.

Although human trafficking is a rapidly growing and under-reported problem that affects inner-cities and affluent suburbs, Ohio's laws "have been slow because modern-day slavery exists in the shadows of society," Fedor said.

Sen. Timothy Grendell, R-Chesterland, a sponsor of SB 235, said Ohio has no choice but to act quickly to implement harsher penalties for traffickers.

"Ohio's criminal justice system needs a new tool to fight the growing travesty of human trafficking in our great state. We cannot sit by while hundreds of people are victimized every year by what equates to modern-day slavery," Grendell said.

John Murphy, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said the association fully supports SB 235.

"Recent studies on the incidence of these kinds of offenses, and further information about how these traffickers operate have convinced us that there is a need to more directly focus on those who induce victims into a life of prostitution and compel victims to be involved in various sexual productions or the production of sexually oriented materials," Murphy said. "(SB 235) is targeted at those who prey on unsophisticated victims to lure them into the sex trade for profit."

However, the OPAA wasn't always on board with legislation designating human trafficking as a stand-alone felony, Fedor said. She began working on comprehensive legislation that included a felony provision nearly five years ago, but the bill was broken down into several pieces of legislation, she explained.

"The OPAA (previously) felt that our laws were sufficient to be able to prosecute traffickers and break the criminal enterprise," Fedor said. "(SB 235) aims directly at the criminal enterprise."

Fedor said although SB 235 is "core legislation" for the prosecution of human traffickers, she plans to introduce legislation to address the reintegration of trafficked individuals into society. SB 235 is supported by 26 bipartisan co-sponsors.