Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Counter Human Trafficking Research and Development Act”.
Counter Human Trafficking Research and Development Act
A BILL
To establish the National Counter Human Trafficking Research and Development Initiative, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress makes the following findings:
Trafficking in persons is a multi-billion dollar transnational illicit enterprise.
Globally, millions of people, including children, are trafficked each year through sexual exploitation or forced labor.
Human trafficking impacts every country around the world, including the United States, whether as the country of origin, transit, or destination, or combination of all three.
Science and technology have important roles to play in combatting human trafficking. The 2019 United Nations Interagency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons report states that technology can help practitioners combat trafficking, such as by aiding investigations, enhancing prosecutions, raising awareness, providing service to victims, and shedding light on the make-up and operation of trafficking networks.
Limited data sources and data fragmentation are major barriers to anti-trafficking efforts, both domestically and globally, and has limited the ability to carry out rigorous study of human trafficking.
Key areas of need for research and technology development to counter human trafficking are measuring the prevalence of trafficking, identifying effective mechanisms for disrupting human trafficking networks, establishing metrics of success for ongoing efforts to combat trafficking, understanding long and short-term needs of victims and survivors, vulnerability reduction, trafficking prevention and demand reduction, understanding how legitimate businesses may enable human trafficking, understanding all forms of trafficking, including labor trafficking, the nature and characteristics of victims of human trafficking in the United States, understanding illicit activities and corruption associated with human trafficking, and evaluating the efficacy and impact of anti-trafficking interventions.
To improve efforts to counter human trafficking, the Federal Government must address major barriers to human trafficking research and technology development by improving and increasing coordination of research efforts and information sharing among researchers, Federal agencies, law enforcement, local, State, and Tribal governments, private sector, survivors and survivor organizations, policymakers, international partners, and other stakeholder communities.
Sec. 3 Definition
In this Act, the term “trafficking” has the meaning given the term “severe forms of trafficking in persons” in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102).
Sec. 4 Counter human trafficking research and development initiative
In general— The President, acting through the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall establish a National Counter Human Trafficking Research and Development Initiative to improve counter human trafficking efforts through—
supporting interdisciplinary research in data, computational, and information sciences, engineering and social and behavioral sciences to accelerate scientific understanding and technological innovation that contributes to the prevention, identification, and disruption of human trafficking within and across communities, including urban, rural, and indigenous and tribal communities, including—
research and development on tools for measuring the prevalence of human trafficking;
design, development, implementation, adaptation, and evaluation of human trafficking interventions;
research to detect and disrupt human trafficking demand;
research to increase understanding of social, financial, and physical networks used in human trafficking; and
research and standards development to detect and disrupt cyber-enabled human trafficking;
accelerating the development, demonstration, and translation of technology that contributes to the prevention, identification, and disruption of human trafficking, including by informing anti-trafficking policymaking;
leveraging existing research programs and activities, as appropriate, on cybersecurity, privacy enhancing technologies, biometrics, digital identity management, digital forensics, data and metadata analytics tools, processes, and techniques to prevent, identify and disrupt human trafficking, including improving the taxonomy of digital trafficking indicators and signatures;
improving Federal agency coordination of research and development activities to counter human trafficking;
improving the sharing of human trafficking data and information among Federal agencies and between public and private entities, while protecting victim and survivor privacy and safety, including by promoting trauma-informed approaches to data collection and sharing;
leveraging technology development across the Federal Government to counter human trafficking;
coordinating and collaborating, to the extent practicable and as appropriate, with similar international efforts and organizations to share data, research, breakthroughs, and best practices;
facilitating public-private partnerships between Federal agencies, State, local and tribal governments, academia, law enforcement, financial institutions, private sector, telecommunications and internet platform providers, nonprofit organizations, nongovernmental organizations, human trafficking victims’ and survivors’ services organizations, and international anti-trafficking organizations to improve human trafficking research;
supporting research and development informed by human trafficking survivors; and
identifying unintended negative consequences of technology and policy implementation on human trafficking networks, operations, and survivors.
Initiative activities— The activities of the Initiative shall include—
sustained support for anti-trafficking related research and development, which may include—
grants to fund the work of individual researchers and teams of researchers, including interdisciplinary teams;
projects funded under joint solicitations by a collaboration of no fewer than two agencies participating in the Initiative; and
interdisciplinary research centers organized to investigate basic and applied research questions, carry out technology prototyping, development and demonstration activities,scale up anti-trafficking research and development, testing, and evaluation;
sustained support for databases and related tools to enhance scientific research and technology development, including—
support for the establishment, curation, and maintenance of databases of vulnerability indicators, trafficking indicators, and other related information, with consideration of data security and privacy in facilitating access to these databases;
development of standards for data sharing and curation, including interoperability, metadata, and protection of privacy, confidentiality, and security;
support for the development of privacy preserving tools and techniques to enable computation or analysis of trafficking indicators while maintaining privacy and confidentiality of that data; and
support for the development of computational tools, including natural language processing, computer vision, and social network analysis for the enrichment of data;
supporting activities to accelerate the translation and implementation of new products, processes, and technologies by—
identifying precompetitive research opportunities with potential for commercialization or adoption by government agencies;
facilitating public-private partnerships in anti-trafficking related research and development;
connecting researchers, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows with entrepreneurship education and training opportunities;
supporting proof of concept activities and formation of startup companies including through programs such as the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program as described in section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638); and
pursuant section 24 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), consider sponsorship of a prize competition; and
supporting research and development activities to support public outreach and dissemination of best practices, tools, and information to prevent, identify, and combat trafficking, including supply chain transparency, business procurement, and other activities.
Sec. 5 Initiative coordination
In general— The President, acting through the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall establish or designate an interagency committee, which shall be co-chaired by the National Science Foundation, and include representatives from any other Federal agency the President considers appropriate (in this section referred to as the “Interagency Committee”). The Interagency Committee shall—
oversee the planning, management, and coordination of the Initiative;
establish and periodically update the goals and priorities of the Initiative;
develop, not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and update every 5 years thereafter, a strategic plan submitted to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate that—
guides the activities of the Initiative for purposes of meeting the goals and priorities established under and updated pursuant to paragraph (3);
establishes milestones and associated activities that reach those milestones in pursuit of achieving the goals of the Initiative;
describe how the Initiative will measure progress toward the established milestones; and
describes—
the Initiative’s support for long-term funding of research and development related to countering human trafficking;
the Initiative’s support for interagency research and public-private partnerships;
how the Initiative will contribute to translating research and development results from the lab to victim and survivor organizations, law enforcement, investigators, and prosecutors;
the Initiative’s support for victim and survivor-centric privacy, confidentiality, and security considerations;
the Initiative’s support for inclusive research of diverse populations, including girls and women of color, homeless individuals, LGBTQIA+ youth, Indigenous People, migrant workers, and other groups; and
develops a plan to utilize Federal programs, such as Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program as described in section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), in support of activities described in section 4(b)(3);
in carrying out this section, take into consideration the recommendations by the advisory committee established in section 6 and input from other expert stakeholders; and
coordinate with the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking established pursuant to section 105 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7103).
Biennial report— Beginning with fiscal year 2024 and ending in fiscal year 2028, not later than 90 days after submission of the President’s annual budget request and every second fiscal year thereafter, the Interagency Committee shall prepare and submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report that includes a summarized agency budget in support of the Initiative for the fiscal year to which the budget applies and the following fiscal year, including a breakout of spending for each agency participating in the Program.
Sec. 6 Advisory committee
In general— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Science Foundation shall, in consultation with the Office of Science and Technology Policy, establish an advisory committee on counter human trafficking research and development (referred to in this section as the “advisory committee”).
Composition— The advisory committee established pursuant subsection (a) shall be composed of not fewer than 12 members, including representatives of research institutions, institutions of higher education, law enforcement, financial institutions, payment processors, private sector, nonprofit organizations, survivors of human trafficking, including at least one survivor of labor trafficking and one survivor of sex trafficking, and victims’ and survivors’ services organizations who are qualified to provide advice to the Initiative.
Duties— The advisory committee established under subsection (a) shall assess—
the coordination, implementation, and activities of the Initiative;
the balance of activities and funding across the Initiative; and
the need to revise the Program.
Sec. 7 GAO review
Study— Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study that includes an assessment of human trafficking data collection needs and practices of Federal agencies, local nongovernmental organizations, law enforcement, and prosecutors to improve Federal research and development to prevent, identify, and disrupt human trafficking.
Report— Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a report on the findings of the study conducted under subsection (a) to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate.
Sec. 8 National Science Foundation activities
In general— The Director of the National Science Foundation shall continue to award grants on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to institutions of higher education or nonprofit organizations (or a consortia thereof) to support anti-trafficking related research and development that contributes to the prevention, identification, and disruption of human trafficking.
Authorization of appropriations— There are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science Foundation to carry out subsection (a)—
$2,600,000 for fiscal year 2023;
$3,200,000 for fiscal year 2024;
$3,800,000 for fiscal year 2025;
$4,400,000 for fiscal year 2026; and
$5,200,000 for fiscal year 2027.