HR2961-119

What This Bill Does

The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act updates three trafficking programs. It renames and rewrites HHS school prevention grants as Frederick Douglass Human Trafficking Prevention Education Grants, prioritizing local educational agencies in high-intensity child sex trafficking areas or areas with significant child labor trafficking and giving additional priority to partnerships with trafficking-prevention nonprofits, law enforcement, and technology or social media companies. Grantees must use evidence-based, age-appropriate, trauma-informed train-the-trainer models for guardians, K-12 students, teachers, and school personnel, and HHS must report annually after 540 days on grantees, partnerships, schools, training reach, pre- and post-training surveys, victims served, at-risk students, demographics, service gaps, and best practices. The bill also authorizes a Frederick Douglass Human Trafficking Survivors Employment and Education Program for adult trafficking survivors for up to five cumulative years of education, job training, life skills, expungement help, college or technical school help, coaching, case management, and victim-compensation assistance. Finally, it reauthorizes trafficking funding through fiscal years 2025-2029, including 30,755,000 dollars annually for sections 106 and 107 purposes, 5,000,000 dollars annually for the National Human Trafficking Hotline and public education or cybersecurity campaigns, and 35,000,000 dollars annually for Office for Victims of Crime housing assistance grants.

Who Benefits and How

Local educational agencies in high-risk trafficking areas benefit from priority access to Frederick Douglass prevention education grants. Homeless youth, foster youth, child welfare youth, and runaway youth benefit because the grant reporting and targeting rules focus on students most at risk of trafficking or exploitation. Adult trafficking survivors benefit from up to five years of employment, education, life-skills, expungement, case-management, and victim-compensation support. The National Human Trafficking Hotline benefits from a dedicated 5,000,000 dollar annual authorization for hotline and related public education or cybersecurity work.

Who Bears the Burden and How

HHS program administrators must select grantees, consult other agencies, collect detailed annual metrics, and operate the survivor employment and education program. Local educational agencies receiving grants must train guardians, K-12 students, teachers, and school personnel using trauma-informed evidence-based models. Eligible service providers must deliver individualized survivor support and coordinate anti-trafficking networks. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of reauthorized trafficking prevention, hotline, survivor, and housing-assistance funding through fiscal year 2029.

Key Provisions

• Renames and expands school prevention grants as Frederick Douglass Human Trafficking Prevention Education Grants.
• Prioritizes local educational agencies in high-intensity child sex trafficking areas and significant child labor trafficking areas.
• Creates a Frederick Douglass survivor employment and education program with up to five years of services for eligible adult victims.
• Requires HHS annual reports on grantees, partnerships, schools, training reach, survey results, victims served, at-risk students, demographics, gaps, and best practices.
• Authorizes trafficking prevention, hotline, public education, cybersecurity, and housing-assistance funding for fiscal years 2025 through 2029.