[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1625 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1625

To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to include 
    severe forms of trafficking in persons within the definition of 
 transnational organized crime for purposes of the rewards program of 
            the Department of State, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 20, 2017

   Mr. Royce of California (for himself and Ms. Frankel of Florida) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                            Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 to include 
    severe forms of trafficking in persons within the definition of 
 transnational organized crime for purposes of the rewards program of 
            the Department of State, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Targeted Rewards for the Global 
Eradication of Human Trafficking'' or the ``TARGET Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Trafficking in persons is a major transnational crime 
        that threatens United States national security and humanitarian 
        interests.
            (2) Trafficking in persons is increasingly perpetrated by 
        organized, sophisticated criminal enterprises.
            (3) Combating trafficking in persons requires a global 
        approach to identifying and apprehending the world's worst 
        human trafficking rings.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
Department of State's rewards program is a powerful tool in combating 
sophisticated international crime and that the Department of State and 
Federal law enforcement should work in concert to offer rewards that 
target human traffickers who threaten United States national security 
and humanitarian interests by preying on the most vulnerable people 
around the world.

SEC. 3. REWARDS FOR JUSTICE.

    Paragraph (5) of section 36(k) of the State Department Basic 
Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708(k)) is amended--
            (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 
        ``means'';
            (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses 
        (i) and (ii), respectively, and moving such clauses, as so 
        redesignated, two ems to the right;
            (3) by inserting before clause (i), as so redesignated, the 
        following:
                    ``(A) means--'';
            (4) in clause (ii), as so redesignated, by striking the 
        period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and
            (5) by adding at the end following new subparagraph:
                    ``(B) includes severe forms of trafficking in 
                persons, as such term is defined in section 103 of the 
                Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 
                7102).''.
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