From David Klepper: Kansas lawmakers want to give law enforcement new tools to fight human trafficking.
A bill reviewed by a Senate committee Wednesday would make coerced employment a crime punishable by time in prison. Longer sentences would apply when the trafficking is part of an ongoing criminal enterprise.
The bill also would allow police to seize the assets of human trafficking rings.
Its sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, an Independence Republican, said the new legislation was prompted by a five-part series last year in The Kansas City Star that found that the U.S. government has failed to find and help tens of thousands of trafficking victims.
