There are close to half a million hotel and motel rooms across the state of Florida which are rented out each year to accommodate over 100 million local and international visitors. Once the concierge hands you the key, the room becomes yours to essentially do whatever you please. Of course, there are basic rules which are set in place by the facilities, but the reality is that the privacy which accompanies this process makes it challenging to fully enforce those rules or know what really goes on in those rooms. It has come to light that perhaps these hotels and motels may not be as clueless about what actually occurs between their walls as they may seem.
Over the past 8 years, reports of over 1,400 cases of human trafficking taking place in various hotels and motels have been made. Individuals who are brave enough to come forward are contacting a National Hotline to speak up. These 1,434 reported cases represent only a small portion of the estimated 24.9 million people who are trapped in some form of a modern-day slavery epidemic which exists today. For those who may be less familiar with the term, “human trafficking” is defined as any illegal transportation of people from one country or area to another and forcing those to partake in any form of labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Human trafficking has been a problem for centuries. However, the progress toward resolving this crisis has been quite slow. In fact, it was not until the year 2000 that a definition was formulated for victims of human trafficking through the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
The issues surrounding the human trafficking crisis are still as prominent as ever, but the appropriate recognition of the problem is not necessarily acknowledged the way it should be. In order to shed light on this dilemma and provide some form of remedy, Senate Bill 1044 was filed in the Florida Senate during the 2018 Legislative Session. The intent of this bill was to recognize these horrific acts and establish well deserved rights and remedies for the survivors of human trafficking. The bill contained an approach which would hold those who have a role in these acts accountable, whether their involvement was big or small. SB 1044 addressed the need to recognize the roles that certain hotels and motels have with respect to human trafficking and hold them accountable for the actions which are occurring under their roofs. The bill defined their failure to inquire about questionable situations occurring in their facilities as “willful blindness” which made them responsible as a direct form of negligence. The bill was aimed to protect victims for life, provide aide, and ensure their financial security through a planned disbursement of money received from settlements or other recoveries. Critics of this proposed legislation suggested there were not appropriate resources provided to assist these hotels and motels with the proper training required to prevent these acts.
One would assume a bill of such magnitude and good intention that had received unanimous support when presented in the Senate committees would pass without question. Unfortunately, earlier this month the bill was withdrawn from consideration and indefinitely postponed. It is difficult to accept the reasoning behind the rejection of this proposed legislation. Excuses such as the risk of fake victims coming forward, frivolous lawsuits, or that the term “willful blindness” had never previously been defined in the law were not substantial enough to derail such an important piece of legislation. With a predicament so significant that legislators have acknowledged and supported the need for reform, it leads one to question the real motives behind the failure of this bill to pass during the 2018 legislative session. If the unanimous support represented during the Senate committee hearings was genuine, why stop this much needed remedy in its tracks? Other states with booming tourism have addressed this epidemic. Nevada has the right to revoke business licenses from hotels aiding or ignoring incidents of human trafficking which occurs in their hotels. New York is in the process of proposing a similar bill to the one our state just recently turned down. The secrecy and lack of transparency that our system seems to operate in has provided us yet again with a huge disappointment. By ignoring the testimony of the victims and defeating this bill, there is a resounding message that we are catering to the secret partners who capitalize from human trafficking by allowing them to remain untouched. It is very likely that many individuals were unaware that this crisis exists and that legislation was presented in an attempt to curb the problem until reading this article. In fact, I was only recently made aware of this crisis. This underscores the concern that a blanket has been placed over this issue by the big business lobby. The plea here is for our legislators to engage in this controversial issue and not succumb to special interest groups. This issue has been framed and the epidemic is real. This should not be just another bill pushed aside. I encourage each of you to do your research, ask people around you, formulate your own opinion on this matter, and most importantly, contact those who can be responsible for making the changes necessary to protect these victims. In order to make a difference and be part of the solution, we must take action to see action.
http://www.flsenate.gov/media/videoplayer?EventID=2443575804_2018021124
https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers