Committee backs tougher minimum sentences for child trafficking in SB 262; advocates support increase

Senate Judiciary Committee members heard testimony supporting SB 262, a bill to increase minimum and maximum penalties for trafficking children in New Hampshire.

Senator Victoria Sullivan (R–District 18), sponsor of SB 262, said the bill raises the statutory minimum sentences for child trafficking and increases the maximum to life in prison for the most serious offenses. “Current minimums are, 7 years for a minimum, and that is far below what even Congress has passed it at 15 years,” she said, adding that 18 years of minimum sentence is meant “symbolic of every year of childhood that's robbed from these children.”

Pamela Kellogg, public policy specialist for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, told the committee the coalition supports the bill and described the state’s multidisciplinary response to trafficking. She provided data from the coalition’s crisis centers showing the state had identified trafficking victims across the state and that children were among those affected: “In 2023, our crisis center supported 81 victims of human trafficking and 11 percent of those, so about 9 of them were children,” Kellogg said.

Committee action recorded in the transcript shows members voted on a committee recommendation: a motion on the bill was brought and the committee recorded support. The transcript records senators voting “aye” on an “ought to pass” motion. The committee also discussed related work on penalties for illicit massage parlors as part of the broader anti‑trafficking agenda.

The bill had support from advocates who emphasized criminal penalties alongside victim protections. The transcript does not record any formal opposition testimony.

Next steps: the committee recorded an 'ought to pass' recommendation in the hearing transcript; the bill will proceed according to Senate rules to the next stage of the legislative process.