S. 61 — National Human Trafficking Database Act

This section establishes a National Human Trafficking Database (section 3061 of Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968) to be maintained by the Director of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) within the Department of Justice. (As background, OVC supports crime victim services, including for human trafficking survivors; human trafficking here means labor or sex trafficking as defined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.) The section directs OVC to (1) award grants, for each fiscal year funds are available, to covered State agencies (i.e., State bureaus of investigation or equivalent, or other State agencies coordinating statewide human trafficking responses) for collecting and reporting specified human trafficking data, including county-level prosecutions, arrests, and convictions; anonymized data from hotlines, children's services, federal agencies, and correlated crimes (e.g., prostitution, drug distribution); survivors served by nongovernmental organizations; and statewide prosecutions categorized by sex, race, citizenship, primary language, and prior convictions; (2) issue grant guidance within 180 days of enactment; and (3) require grantees to submit initial data for the most recent fiscal year within one year of enactment (or explain data unavailability). Not later than 18 months after enactment, OVC must publish the database on the Department of Justice website, including the reported State and county data and anti-human trafficking organizations operating by county and primary service (e.g., prevention, identification, recovery, or survivor support). (Thus, the database centralizes trafficking statistics to inform enforcement, prevention, and victim services.)