Committee considers bill to codify Alaska Council on Human Trafficking, sponsors cite high local needs

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The House Judiciary Committee took testimony March 19 on House Bill 118, a bill to establish the Alaska Council on Human and Human Trafficking in state statute and to provide it with an executive director and authority to plan, coordinate and administer grants.

Representative Sarah Vance, sponsor of HB 118, told the committee the council was first formed by administrative order in December 2021 and that formalizing it in statute would make the work permanent and better able to seek grants and coordinate services. “Placing the Alaska Council on Human and *** Trafficking in statute demonstrates a lasting commitment to combat human trafficking in Alaska,” Vance said.

Vance presented data and survivor‑centered examples to describe the scope of the problem in Alaska. She said a 2017 study of Covenant House clients in Anchorage found 45% of trafficked youth identified were Alaska Native, and she cited service providers reporting high rates of childhood sexual abuse among trafficked clients: “One hundred percent of the trafficked clients at Priceless Alaska…report a history of sexual abuse as a child,” Vance said.

Bob Ballinger, policy advisor for Representative Vance, walked the committee through the bill’s sectional provisions. Ballinger said the statute would mirror the governor’s administrative order with a 15‑member council (seven governor appointees, six commissioners or designees, and the attorney general or representative) and would assign duties including standardized data collection, planning and coordination of victim services, public education, grant awarding and auditing, and annual reporting. The bill as drafted sets a statutory effective date of July 1, 2026, and a statutory sunset date of June 30, 2029, to allow transition from the administrative council to a permanent statutory body.

Katie Tipas (spelled in the record as Tipas or Tipas), program coordinator at the Department of Public Safety who has worked with the council, said the council has produced two reports with recommendations and has developed training modules for first responders and medical providers. Tipas told the committee that while the administrative council has done significant work without designated funds, statute alone would not produce new services: “By simply putting this in statute, we probably would not be able to drastically further the mission…we most certainly would need either grant dollars or state dollars to advance most of these components,” she said.

Members asked about membership, representation of labor trafficking and immigrant or limited‑English‑proficient victims, and whether the council should be consolidated with existing bodies such as the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Vance said the council’s membership mirrors the existing executive order and that the bill leaves room to expand membership to cover labor trafficking and other gaps; she also said prior proposals to share leadership with the domestic violence council were discussed but encountered opposition and were not enacted.

The bill would allow the council to apply for and administer federal and state grants; Representative Vance cited a 2024 STOP grant award to Alaska of about $156,000 as an example of existing federal funding streams the council could pursue.

The committee took no final vote on HB 118. Chair Copp said the committee would set HB 118 aside and take public testimony on Friday, March 21.

The hearing record includes references to prior efforts, including a 2013 task force and administrative orders that reestablished the council in 2021. Witnesses emphasized the council’s role in standardizing data, coordinating survivors’ services, and reducing demand for trafficking.