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House Passes Legislation to Combat Child Abuse and Human Trafficking

May 26, 2017
(Washington, DC) – Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) issued the following statement after the House passed eight pieces of legislation to combat child abuse and exploitation.
LaMalfa said: "Human trafficking and child abuse are some of the most heinous acts imaginable. This legislation, once signed, will work to protect our most vulnerable and hold those who prey on children accountable to the highest extent of the law. The bills we passed this week will make it easier for law enforcement to identify and prosecute child predators, provides much-needed services for victims of human trafficking, and closes legal loopholes involving child pornography and human trafficking both in the United States and abroad. These bills make great progress in protecting our children and rightfully punishing those who would seek to abuse them."
H.R. 695, the Child Protection Improvements Act, ensures that youth-serving organizations have access to national background checks on prospective staff and volunteers through the FBI's database. Currently, many youth-serving organizations only have access to state-level background check systems.
H.R. 883, the Targeting Child Predators Act, helps protect valuable information used to prosecute and convict child predators. Under current law, law enforcement is able to obtain the IP address of a suspected child predator and then subpoena Internet Service Providers for the user information attached to the IP address. This legislation prevents the provider from notifying the user of the law enforcement inquiry for 180 days, preventing the alleged child predator from potentially destroying critical evidence or endangering another person.
H.R. 1188, the Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act, reauthorizes the two primary programs of the Adam Walsh Act—the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and Sex Offender Management Assistance Program—for five years. These programs help prevent child abuse by ensuring the public has access to information on known sex offenders who may live in their neighborhood.
H.R. 1842, the Strengthening Children's Safety Act, enhances penalties for sex offenders who fail to register in the national sex offender registry when they have a prior state conviction for a violent crime.
H.R. 1862, the Global Child Protection Act, combats global sex tourism by closing loopholes that allow child predators to go unpunished for their abuse of children overseas.
H.R. 2473, the Put Trafficking Victims First Act, provides training to prosecutors on investigating and processing cases with a victim-centered approach and encourages states to provide appropriate services to victims of trafficking.
H.R. 1761, the Protecting Against Child Exploitation Act, protects child pornography victims by closing a loophole in the law that has allowed some child pornographers to walk-free by adding additional bases of liability to the crime of child pornography.
H.R 1973, the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act, requires prompt reporting of suspected cases of abuse, mandatory training, and implementation of policies and procedures for preventing, reporting, and addressing allegations of sexual abuse at amateur athletic governing bodies. This bill is in response to recent allegations of sexual abuse made against personnel involved with USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming, and USA Taekwondo.
Congressman Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California's First Congressional District, including Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou and Tehama Counties.
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