Reference is to Introduced Version.
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking all after the enacting language and inserting:
/ SECTION 1. Section 16-3-2010 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 7 of 2015, is further amended to read:
"Section 16-3-2010.
As used in this article:
(1) 'Business' means a
corporation, partnership, proprietorship, firm, enterprise,
franchise, organization, or self-employed individual.
(2) 'Charitable
organization' means a charitable organization pursuant to
Section 33-56-20.
(3) 'Debt bondage'
means the status or condition of a debtor arising from a pledge
by the debtor of his personal services or those of a person
under his control as a security for debt, if the value of those
services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the
liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those
services are not respectively limited and defined or if the
principal amount of the debt does not reasonably reflect the
value of the items or services for which the debt was
incurred.
(4) 'Forced labor'
means any type of labor or services performed or provided by a
person rendered through another person's coercion of the person
providing the labor or services.
This definition does not include labor or
services performed or provided by a person in the custody of the
Department of Corrections or a local jail, detention center, or
correctional facility.
(5) 'Involuntary
servitude' means a condition of servitude induced through
coercion.
(6) 'Person' means an
individual, corporation, partnership, charitable organization,
or another legal entity.
(7) 'Sex trafficking'
means the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or
obtaining of a person for one of the following when it is
induced by force, fraud, or coercion or the person performing
the act is under the age of eighteen years and anything of value
is given, promised to, or received, directly or indirectly, by
another any person:
(a)
criminal sexual conduct pursuant to Section 16-3-651;
(b)
criminal sexual conduct in the first degree pursuant to
Section 16-3-652;
(c)
criminal sexual conduct in the second degree pursuant to
Section 16-3-653;
(d)
criminal sexual conduct in the third degree pursuant to
Section 16-3-654;
(e)
criminal sexual conduct with a minor pursuant to Section
16-3-655;
(f)
engaging a child for sexual performance pursuant to
Section 16-3-810;
(g)
producing, directing, or promoting sexual performance by a
child pursuant to Section 16-3-820;
(h)
sexual battery pursuant to Section 16-3-651;
(i)
sexual conduct pursuant to Section 16-3-800; or
(j)
sexual performance pursuant to Section 16-3-800.
(8) 'Services' means an
act committed at the behest of, under the supervision of, or for
the benefit of another person.
(9)
'Trafficking in persons' means when a victim is
subjected to or a person attempts to subject a victim to sex
trafficking, forced labor or services, involuntary servitude, or
debt bondage by employing one of the following:
(a)
physically restraining or threatening to
physically restrain another person;
(b) knowingly
destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating, or possessing an
actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or
another actual or purported government identification document,
of the victim;
(c) extortion
or blackmail;
(d) causing
or threatening to cause financial harm to the victim;
(e)
facilitating or controlling a victim's access to a
controlled substance; or
(f)
coercion.
(10)
'Victim of trafficking in persons' or 'victim'
means a person who has been subjected to the crime of
trafficking in persons."
SECTION 2. Section 16-3-2020 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 74 of 2015, is further amended to read:
"Section 16-3-2020.
(A) A person who recruits, entices,
solicits, isolates, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains,
or so attempts, a victim, knowing that the victim will be
subjected to, or for the purposes of, sex trafficking,
forced labor or services, involuntary servitude or debt bondage
through any means or who benefits, financially or by receiving
anything of value, from participation in a venture which has
engaged in an act described in this subsection, is guilty of
trafficking in persons.
(B) A person
who recruits, entices, solicits, isolates, harbors, transports,
provides, or obtains, or so attempts, a victim, for the purposes
of sex trafficking, forced labor or services, involuntary
servitude or debt bondage through any means or who benefits,
financially or by receiving anything of value, from
participation in a venture which has engaged in an act described
in subsection (A), is guilty of trafficking in persons.
(C)
For a first offense, the person is guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than fifteen
years.
(D)(C)
For a second offense, the person is guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than
thirty years.
(E)(D)
For a third or subsequent offense, the person is
guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, must
be imprisoned not more than forty-five years.
(F)(E)
If the victim of an offense contained in this
section is under the age of eighteen, an additional term
of fifteen years may be imposed in addition and must be
consecutive to the penalty prescribed for a violation of this
section the person is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction, must be imprisoned not more than thirty years.
And, for a second or subsequent offense, if the victim is
under the age of eighteen, the person is guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than forty-five
years.
(G)(F)
A person who aids, abets, or conspires with another
person to violate the criminal provisions of this section must
be punished in the same manner as provided for the principal
offender and is considered a trafficker. A person is considered
a trafficker if he knowingly gives, agrees to give, or offers to
give anything of value so that any person may engage in
commercial sexual activity with another person when he knows
that the other person is a victim of trafficking in persons.
(H)(G)
A business owner who uses his business in a way
that participates in a violation of this article, upon
conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than ten years in
addition to the penalties provided in this section for each
violation.
(I)(H)
A plea of guilty or the legal equivalent entered
pursuant to a provision of this article by an offender entitles
the victim of trafficking in persons to all benefits, rights,
and compensation granted pursuant to Section 16-3-1110.
(J)(I)
In a prosecution of a person who is a victim of
trafficking in persons, it is an affirmative defense that he was
under duress or coerced into committing the offenses for which
he is subject to prosecution, if the offenses were committed as
a direct result of, or incidental or related to, trafficking. A
victim of trafficking in persons convicted of a violation of
this article or prostitution may motion the court to vacate the
conviction and expunge the record of the conviction. The court
may grant the motion on a finding that the person's
participation in the offense was a direct result of being a
victim. A victim of trafficking in persons is not
subject to prosecution pursuant to this article or prostitution,
if the victim was a minor at the time of the offense and
committed the offense as a direct result of, or incidental or
related to, trafficking.
(J) If the
victim was a minor at the time of the offense, the victim of
trafficking in persons may not be prosecuted in court pursuant
to this article or a prostitution offense, if it is determined
after investigation that the victim committed the offense as a
direct result of, or incidental or related to, trafficking.
(K) The
human trafficking specialized service providers must be
certified by the Attorney General through criteria established
by the Human Trafficking Task Force. The Attorney General,
through the task force, must also establish necessary criteria
for Human Trafficking Acute Crisis Care and Resource Centers to
be established in the communities of South Carolina. Once the
service providers are certified and the assessment centers are
open, the information must be disseminated to the family court
bench and bar as well as law enforcement to be utilized in
carrying out the mandates of this statute. The court must
determine the most appropriate way to provide specialized
services to the juveniles to address the concerns relating to
human trafficking.
(K)(L)
Evidence of the following facts or conditions do
not constitute a defense in a prosecution for a violation of
this article, nor does the evidence preclude a finding of a
violation:
(1)
the victim's sexual history or history of commercial
sexual activity, the specific instances of the victim's sexual
conduct, opinion evidence of the victim's sexual conduct, and
reputation evidence of the victim's sexual conduct;
(2)
the victim's connection by blood or marriage to a
defendant in the case or to anyone involved in the victim's
trafficking;
(3)
the implied or express consent of a victim to acts which
violate the provisions of this section do not constitute a
defense to violations of this section;
(4)
age of consent to sex, legal age of marriage, or other
discretionary age; and
(5)
mistake as to the victim's age, even if the mistake is
reasonable.
(L)(M)
A person who violates the provisions of this
section may be prosecuted by the State Grand Jury, pursuant to
Section 14-7-1600, when a victim is trafficked in more than one
county or a trafficker commits the offense of trafficking in
persons in more than one county."
SECTION 3. The repeal or amendment by this act of any law, whether temporary or permanent or civil or criminal, does not affect pending actions, rights, duties, or liabilities founded thereon, or alter, discharge, release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under the repealed or amended law, unless the repealed or amended provision shall so expressly provide. After the effective date of this act, all laws repealed or amended by this act must be taken and treated as remaining in full force and effect for the purpose of sustaining any pending or vested right, civil action, special proceeding, criminal prosecution, or appeal existing as of the effective date of this act, and for the enforcement of rights, duties, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities as they stood under the repealed or amended laws.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. /
Renumber sections to conform.
Amend title to conform.