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Public Policy Update – June 2010

Filed Under Public Policy Updates 


House Committees Meet on Human Trafficking

On June 3, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence and the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence (pdf)  held a joint hearing to discuss their interim charge regarding human trafficking. The charge asks specifically for the committees to make recommendations on best practices in the areas of investigation, prosecution, and tracking of the victims of trafficking crimes, and study whether victims are allowed to effectively recover from their attackers in a civil cause of action.

At this hearing, legislators heard testimony regarding Texas’ response to domestic and international sex trafficking from local law enforcement officials, attorneys and child advocates from around the state. A few witnesses were also members of Attorney General Greg Abbott’s task force on human trafficking, a group assisting with recommendations for upcoming legislation, which is divided into four work groups: Law Enforcement, Training & Outreach, Victim’s Services, and Legal Review.

Witnesses asked for the committees to consider an extension on the statute of limitations for human trafficking cases, pass a statute to align Texas’ definition of “sex trafficking” with the federal definition, and help with safe harbor efforts in the future to help break the cycle of trafficking prostitution in the state. A major focus of the hearing was on domestic trafficking, or the trafficking of minors who are United States citizens and are forced into prostitution. A vast majority of these children are runaways.

Because human trafficking often climbs around large events such as the Super Bowl, a regional North Texas task force is preparing strategies to combat this type of illegal activity at the 2011 game in Arlington. Legislators and witnesses both agreed that human trafficking crimes are much harder to track and prosecute than drug crimes, though they are often connected, and they agreed that a major public awareness campaign is key to ending human trafficking. Texas law enforcement is, however, making progress. One witness gave an astounding statistic: the state of Florida and the city of Houston, Texas, prosecute the most human trafficking cases out of any one of the 42 known regional task forces in the country.

No legislator or witness denied the enormous problem human trafficking is, however the some legislators did express concern that the issue is much more complicated than first appears. By adding more felonies to the codes on criminal justice, a heavy cost and capacity strain is put on the criminal justice system. During session, as hundreds of crime bills are filed, it will be imperative to raise awareness in the Capitol of the horror of human trafficking to ensure attackers are punished to the fullest extent.

Literacy Coalition Honors Legislators with Literacy Champion Awards

The Literacy Coalition of Texas, a group with which the Christian Life Commission is a member, and the Mayor of San Marcos, Susan Narvaiz, honored state elected officials who have played a major role in support literacy efforts in Texas. The coalition honored Senator Florence Shapiro, Representative Rob Eissler, Representative Mark Strama, Representative Scott Hochberg, and former Speaker of the House Gib Lewis for their efforts in passing ground-breaking legislation during the last session. About one in five adults in Central Texas cannot read or write well enough to fill out a job application. Yet less than one in twenty of those adults has access to a program to address their needs. With this reception and awards luncheon, the Literacy Coalition helped raise awareness of the adult education needs in the Central Texas community.

Representative Hochberg is a Literacy Champion especially as Chair of Appropriations Subcommittee on Education to advocate for funding for adult learners and job development. He also serves as Co-Chair of the House Committee on Public Education.

Representative Strama is a Literacy Champion especially in the establishment of Interagency Literacy Council. He also serves as Chair of the House Committee on Technology, Economic Development, and Workforce. His committee is currently overseeing two Interim charges which are to review ways in which communities can meet increasing demand for child-care services while preparing children to succeed in school.

Representative Eissler is a Literacy Champion especially as an advocate for adult learners and job skills programs within TEA and as a promoter of cooperation between agencies for funding, accountability and impact for programs serving adult learners. He also served as Chair of the House Committee on Public Education and sponsored multiple bills to assist with job training and education.

Senator Shapiro is a Literacy Champion especially for promoting and advancing cooperation between agencies: Texas Education Agency (TEA) & The Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) & Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) on behalf of adult learners and as an advocate for adult learners and job skills programs within TEA. She also serves as Chair of the Senate Committee on Education.

Speaker Lewis, former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, is a Literacy Champion in his capacity as education lobbyist. He has a special interest in, and works persistently on behalf of, adult learners.

Gambling Update

With a looming state budget shortfall as high as $18 Billion by some estimates, the pressure on the 82nd Legislature to cut state services and find new sources of revenue will be immense. As expected, the various segments of the gambling industry are already out in force claiming to have just what the state needs – electronic casino style gambling. House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) recently told the press that the state should look to all potential revenue sources to help close the budget gap and specifically recommended considering casino gambling. As in the past, there are competing segments of the gambling industry all claiming to be the best option for Texas to the exclusion of others. The players include current horse tracks and license holders, Native American Tribes, poker players groups, those that favor building “destination resort casinos” and the current charitable bingo operators. It is the position of the CLC that any expansion which includes electronic, slot machine style gambling is a bad bet for the state and that the introduction of such “class III” games will have dire consequences our of the control of the state as it relates to tribal casinos.

The CLC believes that the state should certainly be looking to raise revenues, not just cut an already thin state budget. However, there are many other options for generating revenue that don’t come with such an extreme costs to individuals, families and local economies. Casino slot machine style gambling is an inefficient, unreliable and regressive form of revenue generation that preys upon the poor, relies upon addiction for profit and cannibalizes the local economy. The state of Texas has no business partnering with and profiting from a business model that plays its citizens for suckers.

In the interim, the CLC has been educating folks around the state about the negative consequences of gambling expansion. Our staff and consultants have been meeting with candidates, elected officials and their staffs, like-minded advocacy organizations, the staff of the Texas Lottery Commission, our CLC Commissioners, our Board of Consultants, and making presentations on the subject (mp4).

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In the coming months we will be intensifying our efforts to educate the public.  We will be producing new educational resources and making them more widely available. We encourage you to educate yourself and talk to your neighbors about this issue. The pressure on legislators will be huge and we will be up against industry funded multi-million dollar lobbyists. If we are to push back the forces that seek to prey upon our fellow citizens we will need your help.

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Your comments and recommended resources are welcome in the comments box below.

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