WEST virginia legislature

2021 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 3256

By Delegate Holstein

[Introduced March 16, 2021; Referred to the Committee on Finance]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §5B-1-10, relating to creating the West Virginia Safe House Act to be established; providing legislative findings; creating the act and providing for training; and providing an effective date.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 1. department of commerce.

§5B-1-10. West Virginia Safe House Grant.

(a) Legislative findings. -- The West Virginia Legislature finds that human trafficking and forced labor is a problem across the United States and in the State of West Virginia. As well, safe houses in West Virginia are of the utmost importance to helping eradicate this issue.

(b) West Virginia Safe House Grant established. -- There shall hereby be established a state level government grant for safe houses to be implemented upon passage in the amount of $50,000. This money shall be used for extensive background checks into finding the best-fit family, as provided by The Safehouse Project. This grant money shall also be used to fund mandatory training on how to spot potential human trafficking/forced labor, and how to assess each specific situation that is most commonly observed by professionals. This training shall be given to all law enforcement (including but not limited to state agencies, local police departments, park rangers, etc.). The training shall also be given to education administrators (i.e. teachers, principals, superintendents, teacher assistants, etc.).

(c) Effective date. -- This section shall become effective upon passage.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create the West Virginia Safe House Grant.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.