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H 7649Violent Crime Penalties

Criminal Offenses - Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking

This bill directs fines collected from businesses failing to display human trafficking awareness signs to a fund for violent crime victims.

Signed into law73 Yea0 Nay2 Not voting
Population
Affected
15
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Introduced Feb 11, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends the "Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking." It specifically addresses the fines collected from employers who fail to display required public-awareness signs regarding human trafficking. Under this bill, any money collected from these $300 fines will be deposited into the "violent crimes indemnity account." This account is used to provide financial awards and compensation to victims of violent crimes through the state's criminal injuries compensation program.

For younger readers

There are laws that require certain businesses, like hospitals and job centers, to hang up signs that help people who are being forced to work against their will (this is called human trafficking). If a business does not hang up these signs, they have to pay a fine, which is money paid as a punishment. This new rule says that the money collected from those fines will go into a special piggy bank. The money in this piggy bank is used to help people who have been hurt by violent crimes pay for things they need to recover.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
EmployersVictims of violent crimesStrip clubsHospitalsJob-recruitment centers
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
Amount unknown

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Ensures that financial penalties levied against negligent businesses are directly redistributed to support victims of violent crimes and the community.
  • Strengthens the state's social safety net by providing a dedicated revenue stream to the criminal injuries compensation act, potentially helping vulnerable individuals recover from trauma.
  • Reinforces the importance of human trafficking awareness by ensuring the enforcement mechanism (fines) serves a restorative justice purpose.
  • Relies on the collection of fines to fund essential victim services, which can create unstable funding compared to guaranteed budget allocations.
  • Does not increase the fine amount ($300), which may be too low to effectively deter profitable businesses from ignoring labor and safety regulations.
  • Creates a potential perverse incentive where the state relies on non-compliance to fund social programs, rather than focusing purely on ensuring the signs are actually posted.
For Conservatives
  • Supports victims of violent crime through specific user fees (fines on violators) rather than by raising general taxes on law-abiding citizens.
  • Upholds the rule of law by ensuring that statutory penalties are collected and utilized for a specific, statutorily defined purpose rather than entering a general fund.
  • Ensures that businesses engaging in or facilitating illegal activity (nuisance for prostitution) or failing to comply with the law bear the cost of the social harms associated with their negligence.
  • Maintains government mandates on private businesses regarding what they must display on their own property, which is viewed as an infringement on business autonomy.
  • Could encourage over-zealous enforcement by state agencies looking to generate revenue for the indemnity account rather than simply seeking compliance.
  • Expands the bureaucratic machinery involved in assessing and distributing fines, potentially leading to government bloat.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 5 additions

SECTION 1. Section 11-67.1-20 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-67.1 entitled "Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking" is hereby amended to read as follows: 11-67.1-20. Display of public-awareness sign — Penalty for failure to display.

(a) Any public or quasi-public transportation agency shall display a public-awareness sign that contains the state and national human trafficking resource center hotline information in every transportation station, rest area, and welcome center in the state that is open to the public.

(b) An employer shall display the public-awareness sign described in subsection (a) of this section in a place that is clearly conspicuous and visible to employees and the public at each of the following locations in this state at which the employer has employees:

(1) A strip club or other sexually-oriented business;

(2) A business entity previously found to be a nuisance for prostitution;

(3) A job-recruitment center;

(4) A hospital; or

(5) An emergency-care provider.

(c) The department of labor and training shall impose a fine of three hundred dollars ($300) per violation on an employer that knowingly fails to comply with subsection (b) of this section. The fine shall be the exclusive remedy for failure to comply.

(d) All monies assessed pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the violent crimes indemnity account within the general fund, as established pursuant to § 12-25-28, for the purpose of paying awards granted pursuant to the criminal injuries compensation act established pursuant to the provisions of chapter 25 of title 12.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.