42 U.S.C. § 1314b — National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States

(a) Official designation. This section concerns the National Advisory Committee^* on the Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States^* (the “Committee”).

(b) Authority. No later than 2 years after September 29, 2014, the Secretary^* must establish the Committee and appoint all its members.

(c) Membership. (1) The Committee may have no more than 21 members. Their diverse experience and backgrounds must enable them to provide balanced views when carrying out the Committee’s duties. (2) The Secretary appoints the members after consulting the Attorney General and the National Governors Association. At least one member must be a former sex-trafficking victim. Two members must be State^* Governors: one must be a member of the Democratic Party and one must be a member of the Republican Party. (3) Members are appointed for the life of the Committee. A vacancy must be filled in the same way as the original appointment. A vacancy does not affect the Committee’s powers or duties. (4) Members serve without compensation or a daily allowance for subsistence.

(d) Duties. (1) The Committee must advise the Secretary and the Attorney General about practical, general policies for improving the Nation’s response to sex trafficking of children and youth in the United States. (2) The Committee must also advise them about practical, general policies for cooperation among Federal, State, local, and tribal governments; child-welfare agencies; social-service providers; physical-health and mental-health providers; victim-service providers; State or local courts responsible for conducting or supervising child-welfare or family social-service proceedings; Federal, State, and local police; juvenile detention centers; runaway and homeless youth programs; schools; the gaming and entertainment industry; and businesses and organizations that provide services to youth. That cooperation includes developing and carrying out (A) successful interventions with children and youth exposed to conditions that make them vulnerable to, or who are victims of, sex trafficking; and (B) recommendations for administrative or legislative changes needed to use Federal Government programs, property, or other resources to provide safe housing for child and youth sex-trafficking victims and to support entities that provide housing or other assistance to victims. (3)(A) Within 2 years after the Committee is established, it must develop two tiers of recommended best practices^* for States combating sex trafficking of children and youth. “Tier I” must give States that have not yet substantively addressed the subject an idea of where to begin and what steps to take. “Tier II” must give States already working on the subject examples of policies that other States are already using effectively. (B) The best practices must be based on multidisciplinary research and promising, evidence-based models and programs reflected in State efforts to meet sections 101 and 102 of the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act. (C) The best practices must be user-friendly, use the most up-to-date technology, and include: (i) sample training materials, protocols, and screening tools that, as far as possible, accommodate regional differences among States and prepare people who administer social services to identify and serve children and youth who are sex-trafficking victims or at risk of sex trafficking; (ii) multidisciplinary strategies to identify victims, manage cases, and improve services for all children and youth in the United States who are at risk of sex trafficking or are sex-trafficking victims; (iii) sample protocols and recommendations based on current State efforts, accounting for regional differences, for effective cooperation across Federal, State, local, and tribal governments, child-welfare agencies, social-service providers, physical-health and mental-health providers, victim-service providers, State or local courts responsible for child-welfare or family social-service proceedings, the gaming and entertainment industry, Federal, State, and local police, juvenile detention centers, runaway and homeless youth programs, housing resources appropriate for housing child and youth trafficking victims, schools, and businesses and organizations that provide services to children and youth. These protocols and recommendations should include strategies to identify victims and collect, document, and share data across systems and agencies. They should help agencies better understand the type of sex trafficking involved, the scope of the problem, the needs of the population to be served, ways to address demand for trafficked children and youth and increase prosecutions of traffickers and purchasers of children and youth, and the degree of victims’ interaction with multiple systems; (iv) the criteria and guidelines needed to establish safe residential placements for foster children who have been sex trafficked and for trafficking victims identified through interaction with law enforcement; and (v) training guidelines for caregivers who serve children and youth cared for outside the home. (D) In coordination with the National Governors Association, the Secretary, and the Attorney General, the Committee must ensure that State Governors and child-welfare agencies are notified and informed quarterly about the best practices and recommendations. It must also ensure that they are notified 6 months before the Committee evaluates how extensively States have adopted its recommendations. (E) Within 3 years after the Committee is established, it must submit to the Secretary and the Attorney General, as part of its final report and for online public publication, a description of what each State has done to implement the Committee’s recommendations.

(e) Reports. (1) The Committee must submit an interim report and a final report on its work to (A) the Secretary, (B) the Attorney General, (C) the Senate Committee on Finance, and (D) the House Committee on Ways and Means. (2) The interim report is due no later than 3 years after the Committee is established. The final report is due no later than 4 years after the Committee is established.

(f) Administration^*. (1) The Secretary must direct the head of the Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services to provide all necessary support to the Committee. (2)(A) The Committee meets when the Secretary calls it, at least twice each year and more often when otherwise required. (B) The Secretary must create a process allowing members who cannot travel to a meeting in person^* to participate remotely by video conference, teleconference, online means, or other means. (3) The Committee may establish subcommittees or working groups as necessary and consistent with its mission. A subcommittee or working group may not make decisions for the Committee or report directly to an official or entity listed in subsection (d). (4) The records of the Committee and its subcommittees and working groups must be maintained under appropriate Department of Health and Human Services policies and procedures. They must be available for public inspection and copying, subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

(g) Termination. The Committee terminates 5 years after the date it is established. After the Committee terminates, the Secretary must continue to operate and update, as necessary, an Internet website displaying the State best practices, recommendations, and evaluation of State-by-State implementation of the Secretary’s recommendations.

(h) Definition. For this section, “sex trafficking” includes the definition in title 22, section 7102(10), and “severe form of trafficking in persons” includes the severe form described in title 22, section 7102(9)(A).