SB 1044 — Victims of Human Trafficking

Florida Senate - 2018 CS for SB 1044 By Senatorthe BookCommittee 32-01237-18on 20181044__Children, AFamilies, billand toElder beAffairs; entitled An act relating to victims of human trafficking;

and Senators Book and Campbell 586-03130-18 20181044c1 A bill to be entitled An act relating to victims of human trafficking;

providingdefining definitions;terms;

providing for damages, penalties, punitive damages, attorney fees, expenses, and costs;

providing for the deposit or distribution of civil penalties;

providingrequiring for the equal distribution of punitive damages;damages between victims and the trust fund;

providing that such actions are not subject to aspecified statute of limitations;

providing an affirmative defense for owners or operators of public lodging establishments under certain circumstances;

amending s.

95.11, F.S.;

conforming provisions to changes made by the act;

2125 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

2327 Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Civil ActionCause for Victims of HumanAction Traffickingfor andVictims Prevention of Human Trafficking Act.” Section 2. Section 787.061, Florida Statutes, is created to read:

787.061 Civil actions by victims of human trafficking.— (1) FINDINGS.—The(1) FINDINGS.-The Legislature finds that, to achieve the goalsintent of the stateLegislature relating to human trafficking expressed in s.

787.06, or by any other means, for the purpose of being used in human trafficking,trafficking; a child under 18 years of age subjected to human trafficking, or an individual subjected to human trafficking as defined by federal law.

a child under 18 years of age subjected to human trafficking;

or an individual subjected to human trafficking as defined by federal law.

1. The1. Economic measure of economic damages forinclude, servicesbut orare labornot coercedlimited fromto, thepast victimand offuture humanmedical traffickingand ismental thehealth greaterexpenses; of the fair market value of the labor or services provided or the amount realized by the trafficker.

For purposes of this subparagraph, the terms “services” and “labor” have the same meanings as provided in s.

787.06.

2. The measure of economic damages for every day that the human trafficking was ongoing shall be calculated as a daily amount of the compensation payable to a person under s.

961.06(1)(a).

3. Economic damages also include past and future medical and mental health expenses;

4. Noneconomic2. Noneconomic damages are nonfinancial losses that would not have occurred but for the victimization, and include pain and suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of capacity for enjoyment of life, and other nonfinancial losses.

(e) If a victim prevails in an action under this section, in addition to any other award imposed, the court shall assess a civil penalty against the defendant in the amount of $100,000.$50,000.

(4) STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.—ThereLIMITATIONS.—The is no statute of limitations foras actionsspecified broughtin underss. this section.

(5) AFFIRMATIVE95.11(7) DEFENSE.—Inand any95.11(9) action brought under this section against the owner or operator of a public lodging establishment based on a claim of vicarious liability, it is anapplicable affirmativeto defenseactions againstbrought suchunder claimthis ifsection. the owner or operator proves by a preponderance of evidence that it:

(a) Required(5) AFFIRMATIVE employeesDEFENSE.—In ofany theaction establishmentbrought reasonablyunder expectedthis tosection routinelyagainst interactthe withowner guestsor tooperator completeof ana educationalpublic programlodging designedestablishment tobased effectivelyon traina suchclaim employeesof invicarious theliability, identificationit andis reportingan ofaffirmative suspecteddefense humanto traffickingdamages withinrecoverable 30under dayssuch ofclaim hiringif the owner or byoperator Julyproves 1,by 2019,the whicheverpreponderance occursof later;evidence that:

(b) Had(a) It inrequired placemanagement anemployees employeeand protocolemployees orof employeethe codeestablishment ofreasonably conductexpected to detectroutinely interact with guests to complete an educational program designed to effectively train such employees in the identification, prevention, and reportreporting of suspected human trafficking;trafficking within 30 days after hiring or by January 1, 2019, whichever occurs later;

and(b) It (c) Tookhad reasonable steps, before the first incident giving rise to such action, to ensure that any employees alleged in theplace actionan toeffective haveemployee beenprotocol facilitators of, or otherwiseemployee participantscode in,of humanconduct trafficking,to compliedprevent, withdetect, the recommendations and practicesreport suggestedsuspected orhuman requiredtrafficking; in the training, protocols, or policies required in this subsection.

and (c) Any employee alleged in the action to have been facilitators of, or otherwise participants in, human trafficking, complied with the recommendations and practices suggested or required in the training, protocols, or policies required in this subsection.

Section 4. This4. Subsections act(7) shalland take(9) effectof Julysection 1,95.11, 2018.Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

95.11 Limitations other than for the recovery of real property.—Actions other than for recovery of real property shall be commenced as follows:

(7) FOR INTENTIONAL TORTS BASED ON ABUSE.—An action founded on alleged abuse, as defined in s.

39.01, s.

415.102, or s.

984.03, or incest, as defined in s.

826.04, or human trafficking, as defined in s.

787.06, may be commenced at any time within 7 years after the age of majority, or within 4 years after the injured person leaves the dependency of the abuser, or within 4 years from the time of discovery by the injured party of both the injury and the causal relationship between the injury and the abuse, whichever occurs later.

(9) SEXUAL BATTERY OFFENSES ON VICTIMS UNDER AGE 16.—An action related to an act constituting a violation of s.