Senate approves felonies for human trafficking and smuggling

After a series of discussions on what the penalty for human smuggling should be, the Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved a House bill that creates state criminal provisions for both human smuggling and trafficking.

The Senate finally settled on a third degree felony before voting unanimously to send HB339 back to the House for concurrence.

"If you are engaged in human trafficking or human smuggling, you are busted," Sen. Majority Leader Curt Bramble, the bill's Senate sponsor said. "That is basically what the bill does."

HB339 creates state criminal penalties for the crimes already against federal law. As amended, human trafficking for forced labor or sexual exploitation is a a second degree felony. And both crimes would be aggravated to a first degree felony if they involved death of a smuggled or trafficked person or if they involved sex crimes or victims held against their will for more than 180 days.

The bill had been amended Monday to make human smuggling a Class A misdemeanor, to coincide with the penalty for transporting undocumented immigrants in SB81, a comprehensive bill dealing with illegal immigration.

Senators on Tuesday cited GOP caucus support when they struck that amendment, returning to HB339's original second degree felony, then later amended the bill again to make the third degree felony for human smuggling.