Sen. McGill introduces legislation to alter human trafficking laws

Sen. Amanda McGill used to think prostitutes sold their bodies because they wanted to.

She changed her mind at a hearing last March that exposed many Omaha massage parlors as cover-ups for prostitution rings and shone light on the issue of human sex trafficking, or the forceful exploitation of women.

"I guess I was a little naive," McGill said.

Nearly a year later, the issue appears to be picking up steam as McGill pushes landmark legislation that would alter laws related to human trafficking penalties and provisions (LB1145) and grant $20,000 in funding to the Nebraska Prostitution Intervention and Treatment Act (LB1146). The Judiciary Committee held a hearing for LB1145 Thursday afternoon, and the bill was unopposed in testimony.

"Now, we have total support from everybody," said Sriyani Tidball, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln advertising lecturer who founded Nebraska University Students Against Modern-Day Slavery and Slave Free Nebraska. "They're finally accepting that the girl next door is not safe. This is not some refugee that crossed the border. This is a marketplace for young girls."

McGill was out of town for Thursday's hearing, so her legislative aide Amy Williams introduced the bill. LB1145 addresses six elements of human trafficking, including sensitivity training for law enforcement officers, the public posting of the human trafficking hotline in areas like truck stops and the development of a process to remove prostitution charges from criminal records.

"I'm trying to go at the problem holistically and would love in the future to see a more particular (system) … of getting charges wiped from your record — so that a woman can choose to go through rehabilitation and get her life back on track," McGill said.

Nebraska's human trafficking legislation came under fire last year, when Shared Hope International gave the state a failing grade for the quality of its sex trafficking laws. McGill said she examined the Shared Hope International report card as well as rankings from the Polaris Project, another organization that fights human trafficking, resulting in legislation that would be unique to Nebraska. She also aims to conduct a statewide study of human trafficking patterns to provide numbers to support anecdotal evidence.

Sgt. David Baker, deputy chief of the Omaha Police Department, said the department supports LB1145 — with a few exceptions. He cited questions of constitutionality in the bill's section on seizure of the property of suspected criminals.

"We can't state strongly enough how heinous this kind of activity is in our state," Baker said. "(But) we want to ensure that in pursuing these criminals we are protecting their constitutional rights. That's the way we do business."

Despite the potential necessity for amendment, Tidball said McGill's bills have a strong chance of changing the state's handling of human trafficking.

"I've seen what we can do as a community," Tidball said. "Nebraska can be a model state. Our state is small enough and our people are caring enough that we can actually be a role model for the rest of the country."

Tidball said the state could send an important message to the others: McGill's preliminary assumption about prostitution was wrong.

"Women don't like to sell their bodies to men," Tidball said. "It's a humiliating job."

jacymarmaduke@dailynebraskan.com