Kefalas bill to shield victims of human trafficking stalls in committee

A bill by state Sen. John Kefalas intended to protect underage victims of sex trafficking has been killed by the Colorado Senate.

The bill was designed to grant immunity to minors who were coerced into prostitution or similar acts so they would not face prosecution and to funnel them into area social services programs.

It failed in a Senate committee Monday on a party line vote.

"The legislative intent of this bill is to protect children who are victims of human trafficking from further trauma by recognizing them as victims, rather than criminals," he said in opening remarks to the committee.

Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed concern that immunity would be too far reaching and unnecessary and that they wouldn't be able to properly consider amendments they felt necessary.

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The bill was originally heard by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Feb. 15. That committee referred it to the appropriations committee with unanimous support. It was sponsored by Kefalas, a Fort Collins Democrat, in the Senate. Both sponsors in the House of Representatives are Republicans.

In Monday's vote, the three Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee opposed it and the two Democrats supported it.

"It is very disappointing that a bipartisan bill to protect child victims of human trafficking by offering safe harbor and better access to child welfare services did not advance," Kefalas said in a written statement after the vote. "Once again the legislature has kicked a serious problem down the road for another legislative session to solve. We must recognize children subjected to this horror as victims rather than criminals.”

The Republican senators on the judiciary committee all expressed admiration for Kefalas' intent with the bill. Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose, said he wished the bill came up in their committee first and that they would have been able to hear all the testimony about it. The hearing Monday featured only the judiciary committee members and Kefalas. Coram expressed hope that issues with it would be sorted out in an interim committee.

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He noted that only one minor has been prosecuted on prostitution charges since 2014, out of 10 who have been charged with it in that time period. That indicated legislators should take their time and "do it right."

Democratic members of the committee argued that the bill would make interactions between victims of trafficking and law enforcement less combative. Sen. Daniel Kagan, D-Englewood, said it would shift victims' perspective on law enforcement from people out "to make your life miserable" to that of "liberators."

Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley and the former Weld County sheriff, doubted that outcome. He said that message might reverberate under the Gold Dome, but pimps would still tell their victims not to trust law enforcement. He encouraged an interim committee and further involvement by Denver District Attorney Beth McCann.

"This is a huge change, and it should have come here initially, and I'm sorry that it didn't," Cooke said.

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