<p>US</p><p>New law makes human trafficking a state crime</p><p>The Tidings</p><p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed the most comprehensive legislation in the country to combat human trafficking and modern day slavery: the California Trafficking Victims' Protection Act (AB22), along with SB180, a related trafficking bill. http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/0930/trafficking.htm http://www.childtrafficking.org/cgi-bin/ct/main.sql?ID=2017&file=view_document.sql</p><p>New law makes human trafficking a state crime</p><p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week signed the most comprehensive legislation in the country to combat human trafficking and modern day slavery: the California Trafficking Victims' Protection Act (AB22), along with SB180, a related trafficking bill. "Now we have a great tool to expand our efforts in this area," said Steve Cooley, Los Angeles district attorney during a Sept. 21 press conference at his downtown office shortly after the governor signed the legislation, supported by several communities of women religious. A federal law already exists against human trafficking, but Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, one of the bill's principal sponsors, said the state law would empower local police and prosecutors to get directly involved when they suspect human trafficking is taking place in their local communities. Florencia Molina Alvarez, a trafficking survivor from Mexico now living in California, recounted her story of being enticed to the U.S. with promises of a good job, but then forced to work 17 hours a day in a clandestine sewing shop. She was given one 10- minute meal break a day to eat her daily ration of beans and rice. After she finally convinced her employer/captor to let her walk to a nearby church to attend Mass, she realized she had an opportunity to escape and asked a man walking by to help her make a phone call. Soon thereafter, the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) came to her aid. Her trafficker received six months of house arrest. "People will hear my story and know that slavery still exists," said Alvarez in accented English, as she thanked the governor profusely for signing the bill. "This way more victims can get help like me and get justice and recover from abuse," said Alvarez, who now works as a cashier and hopes to be reunited with her three children still living in Mexico. AB22 criminalizes human trafficking as a felony. Persons convicted of human trafficking can now be sentenced from three to eight years in prison. The law also provides civil remedies for victims of trafficking to get compensated for damages suffered and creates a statewide task force to improve the statewide response to human trafficking. Victim services also are made available to assist victims recovering from abuse. A study released last February by the U.C. Berkeley Human Rights Center identified 57 forced labor operations in almost a dozen cities in California between 1998 and 2003 that involved more than 500 persons. Among those lobbying for passage of the bill were hundreds of sisters from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, and Religious Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Mary. Religious sisters are also involved in providing shelter and recovery services to trafficking survivors who have escaped bondage. "One of the dimensions I do not want to see lost in terms of AB22 is attentiveness to victims," said Religious of the Sacred Heart Sister Mary Genino. She praised the comprehensiveness of the law for providing remedies to victims, saying that as Californians "we recognize that we are members of a global community and we have taken ourselves out of our comfort zone to really provide for and respond to human rights of people from all over the world." </p>