Bill would create new protections for trafficking victims

A bill filed Wednesday in the Florida legislature would create new protections for trafficking victims seeking to clear their records of crimes committed while they were being exploited — but at the cost of transparency.

The bill, HB 841, filed by State Rep. Fred Hawkins, R-St. Cloud, would make any petitions for expunction filed by human trafficking survivors exempt from public records law.

“Persons who are victims of human trafficking and who have been arrested for offenses committed, or reported to have been committed, as a result of being trafficked are themselves victims of crimes,” the bill reads. “The fact that the victims are seeking expungement, as well as the information contained in related pleadings and documents, would expose these victims to possible discrimination due to details of their past lives becoming public knowledge.”

But Hawkins’s new bill would also close off most of the petition process from public scrutiny by adding an extra layer of privacy for victims.

A Sun Sentinel investigation previously found that the petition process is highly secretive and difficult to track by design. Once a criminal charge is expunged, any record or mention of it is supposed to be destroyed. Under the new provision, almost no public information would be available on how victims are being treated in court.

Hawkins could not be reached Friday for comment.

In addition to limiting transparency, the bill makes it a more severe crime to provide false information when applying for expunction and includes a ‘sunset’ provision that would roll it back unless reapproved by 2028.

Hawkin’s bill is one of at least 14 anti-trafficking laws working their way through the state legislature. Following the Sun Sentinel’s investigation, numerous legislators filed bills focused on oversight for the foster care system, enforcement for the hotel industry and modifications to the expunction process.

A bill introduced last week by state Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, D-Plantation, would step up enforcement against the hotel industry. The Sun Sentinel found that no hotels have been fined for violating anti-trafficking statutes since the law was passed in 2019. More than 100 hotels had violated the Book’s law would issue mandatory fines to repeat offenders.

Citing the Sun Sentinel investigation, Sen. Rosalind Osgood, D-Tamarac, also filed a bill last month that would help human trafficking victims cover their legal fees while seeking an expunction. Victims are often caught in a vicious cycle, unable to pay for an attorney to help clear their names after they are hit with criminal charges, the investigation found. Osgood’s bill would attempt to short-circuit that pattern by providing financial assistance.

The Sun Sentinel also found that Florida is one of just six states that allow lawyers to depose witnesses in criminal cases without the court’s permission, and that it is one of just three with no exception for sexual abuse victims. Osgood introduced a 15th bill that would limit depositions of victims, but withdrew before it could be considered by the legislature.