2025 -- H 5881 | |
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LC001441 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025 | |
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A N A C T | |
RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- UNIFORM ACT ON PREVENTION OF AND | |
REMEDIES FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING -- TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS AND | |
INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE | |
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Introduced By: Representatives Roberts, Santucci, Quattrocchi, Paplauskas, Hopkins, | |
Date Introduced: February 28, 2025 | |
Referred To: House State Government & Elections | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Section 11-67.1-20 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-67.1 entitled "Uniform |
2 | Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 11-67.1-20. Display of public-awareness sign — Penalty for failure to display. |
4 | (a)(1) The department of transportation Any public or quasi-public transportation agency |
5 | shall display a public-awareness sign that contains the state and national human trafficking resource |
6 | center hotline information in every transportation station, rest area, and welcome center in the state |
7 | that is open to the public. |
8 | (2) The required public awareness sign must be at least eight and one-half inches by eleven |
9 | inches (8 ½" x 11") in size, shall be printed in at least sixteen (16) point type, and shall state |
10 | substantially the following in English and Spanish: |
11 | "If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in an activity and cannot leave, |
12 | whether it is prostitution, housework, farm work, factory work, retail work, restaurant work, or |
13 | other activity, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 or text |
14 | INFO or HELP to 233-733 to access help and services. Victims of slavery and human trafficking |
15 | are protected under United States and Rhode Island law. |
16 | Posted pursuant to chapter 67.1 of title 11." |
17 | (b) An employer shall display the public-awareness sign described in subsection (a) of this |
18 | section in a place that is clearly conspicuous and visible to employees and the public at each of the |
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1 | following locations in this state at which the employer has employees: |
2 | (1) A strip club or other sexually-oriented business; |
3 | (2) A business entity previously found to be a nuisance for prostitution; |
4 | (3) A job-recruitment center; |
5 | (4) A hospital; or |
6 | (5) An emergency-care provider. |
7 | (c) The department of labor and training shall impose a fine of three hundred dollars ($300) |
8 | per violation on an employer that knowingly fails to comply with subsection (b) of this section. |
9 | The fine shall be the exclusive remedy for failure to comply. |
10 | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- UNIFORM ACT ON PREVENTION OF AND | |
REMEDIES FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING -- TRAFFICKING OF PERSONS AND | |
INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE | |
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1 | This act would provide specific language for signs to be posted at certain establishments |
2 | notifying people of contact information to the national human trafficking resource center and delete |
3 | the provisions enabling the department of labor and training to impose fines for failure to post |
4 | signage. |
5 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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