Human Trafficking Commission approves FY25-26 work plan, adds state/local updates and labor-trafficking focus

The Santa Clara County Human Trafficking Commission on May 1 approved its fiscal year 2025–26 work plan, adding requests for state and local legislative and budgetary updates and directing staff to explicitly include capacity for responding to labor trafficking as well as commercial sex trafficking.

Co‑Chairperson Young brought the motion to approve the proposed work plan and it was seconded; Member Green moved the initial motion and Member Dwan seconded the consent-calendar vote earlier in the meeting. During discussion commissioners amended the motion to request that stakeholder briefings include state and local budgetary implications and to add Assemblymember Robert Rivas to the list of key stakeholders the commission will contact. The amended motion also specified that future meeting presentations should include capacity to respond to both labor trafficking and commercial sex trafficking. The commission adopted the amended motion by group voice vote; the chair recorded no abstentions or recusals.

The approved calendar sets four commission meetings in 2025, with the next face-to-face meetings scheduled for June 23, Sept. 8 and Dec. 15, and directs staff to translate presentations and stakeholder recommendations into proposed policy and budget items for the Board of Supervisors by the December review. Commissioners said the changes were intended to broaden the commission's monitoring of funding and policy at multiple levels of government and to ensure the county addresses non-sex forms of trafficking, such as labor exploitation.

Votes at a glance - Consent calendar (items 8–9): approved by voice vote; no abstentions or recusals recorded. (Motion by Member Green; second by Member Dwan.) - FY25‑26 work plan, as amended to add state/local legislative and budgetary updates, include Assemblymember Robert Rivas as a stakeholder to be contacted, and to add capacity to respond to labor and commercial sex trafficking: approved by voice vote; no abstentions or recusals recorded.

Commissioners said the work plan will guide the commission’s presentations, stakeholder outreach and the development of any budget or policy recommendations to the Board of Supervisors later in the year. Several members also requested that future staff reports include a concise budget overview of existing grants and county funding used to support human‑trafficking response and survivor services.