Ohio Senators Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and Tim Grendell (R-Chesterland) have introduced legislation that would make human trafficking in Ohio a second-degree felony.  A bi-partisan group of twenty-six senators have co-sponsored the legislation.

Fedor’s office noted that Ohio is one of only seven states lacking felony-level language for human trafficking in-line with federal standards.

“Ohio needs legislation that will attack human trafficking criminal enterprises and put them away for a very long time,”Senator Fedor said. “Children are trafficked within Ohio’s borders every year because the traffickers know our laws are weak.  It is about time Ohio joined the 43 other states with human trafficking laws on the books and let traffickers know – our children are not for sale.”

The bill comes on the heels of a report by the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission, of which Senator Fedor is vice-chairwoman. The report found that over one thousand children are trafficked in Ohio each year, while several thousand more are considered to be at risk.

“Ohio’s Criminal Justice system needs a new tool to fight the growing travesty of human trafficking in our great State. We can not sit by while hundreds of people are victimized every year by what equates to modern day slavery,” said Senator Grendell, the joint sponsor who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Here’s a copy of the legislation.