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Senate committee clears broad human‑trafficking omnibus bill expanding penalties and victim protections
Summary
House Bill 17 78, an omnibus package of human‑trafficking reforms, was reported favorably out of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice after sponsors described expanded penalties, training and interagency coordination measures to strengthen prosecution and victim protections.
The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice voted unanimously to advance House Bill 17 78, an omnibus human‑trafficking bill that codifies recommendations of the Texas Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force and increases penalties, training and victim protections across multiple statutes.
Senator Huffman, the Senate sponsor, told the committee the bill “introduces comprehensive statutory updates to combat human trafficking, prostitution, child exploitation, and sexual assault,” including adding the Office of Court Administration to the Texas Human Trafficking Coordinating Council, expanding identification training to certain personal-service businesses, and creating a new first‑degree felony for continuous promotion of prostitution.
The measure clarifies penalties for child sexual‑exploitation offenses, raises punishments for promotion of child sexual material above a defined threshold, expands the duty to report certain assaults, extends outcry statement rules for child victims to age 18 and to some disabled victims, and allows broader use of relationship evidence in trafficking prosecutions. Senator Huffman said the bill “ensures Texas is better equipped to combat human trafficking, exploitation, and related offenses while provides victims the support and the justice that they so rightly deserve.”
The committee heard no invited or public testimony opposing the bill; the clerk recorded six ayes and no nays. Sponsors said the legislation is part of continued state efforts to address trafficking and exploitation and that the bill drew from task‑force recommendations developed with law‑enforcement and victim advocates.
Committee members and sponsors discussed how the bill would affect training and prosecution practice, and stressed coordination among local prosecutors, the attorney general's office and law enforcement. The committee recommended the bill be reported to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation and directed it to the floor for consideration.
