The state Senate will vote today on a
bill that would make human trafficking for labor, services or a
commercial sex acts a felony offense with a sentence of up to 25
years.

The bill defines human trafficking as
?recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, or
obtaining an individual without the consent of the individual.?

?We believe that human trafficking is
a form of slavery, and we should do everything in our power to stop
it,? said Rep. Fred Kessler, D-Milwaukee, in an e-mail. ?Victims
are sexually exploited or conscripted as laborers through force,
fraud, or coercion.?

Today?s vote coincides with the
publication of a report on human trafficking by the Office of Justice
Assistance. According to the report, as many as 200 cases of human
trafficking have been brought before officials in Wisconsin.

?When you think about this crime, you
see it is truly heinous; people are being exploited,? said Ryan
Sugden, Public Affairs Officer at the Office of Justice Assistance.

According to the report, of the 200
reported cases, the majority of victims were adults, and 75 percent
of cases involved a sex-related crime.

?The report doesn?t really shock
me,? said Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend. ?As long as there?s
people making money and benefiting off of human trafficking, it will
continue to be a problem.?

Grothman and Kessler said they hope
this bill will be an effective tool for fighting trafficking at the
state level.

According to Kessler, in 2006, there
was a case of human trafficking in Brookfield where a husband and
wife ?confined a woman from the Philippines and forced her to be
their domestic servant for 19 years.?

The victim was required to remain in
the basement when non-family members were present, and she was not
allowed to socialize or speak freely to the outside world.

A federal jury returned a guilty
verdict for three members of the family for ?using threats of
serious harm and physical restraint,? according to the U.S.
Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Investigation.

President George W. Bush passed
legislation in 2006 to renew the Trafficking Victims Protection Act,
a comprehensive federal law for the prosecution of traffickers. But
according to Sugden, awareness of human trafficking remains low.

Wisconsin?s bill would be one of many
state bills intended to deal with the problem on more localized
level.

?Most law enforcement officers are
local, and therefore it is best to deal with the problem locally,?
Grothman said.

Kessler said he believes the bill will
pass because of its bipartisan support, support from district
attorneys and support from the community.

?There
has been a grassroots effort to push for tougher laws that deal with
this issue,? Rep. Suzanne Jeskewitz, R-Menomonee Falls, said in a
statement. ?Local sexual assault service providers and domestic
violence shelters have noticed an increase in the number of human
trafficking victims they serve.?

If the bill passes today, it would
likely move to the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties for a
financial review.