SCARSDALE – Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-88) is proud to announce that Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation (Chapter 408) she authored into law on Friday.

The law requires hospitals, public health centers, diagnostic centers, treatment centers and outpatient departments to establish and implement written policies and procedures for the identification, assessment and treatment/referral of persons suspected as human trafficking victims. Additionally, the law requires that specified personnel in the service units of these facilities complete training regarding these policies and procedures.

According to Dr. Douglas Chin, director of outreach for Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans (PATH), 87 percent of trafficking victims have had contact with a healthcare provider while being trafficked. Nevertheless, fewer than 10 percent of doctors recognize trafficking victims and fewer than three percent of ER doctors have received training in recognition and action.

“With appropriate training, the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who are the most likely to come in contact with a potential victim will be able to recognize the signs that indicate the person seeking treatment may be a human trafficking victim,” Paulin said. “They will also be able to refer the victim so that she can get specialized services and escape her life of violence and enslavement.”

“Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry and nearly 300,000 children, some as young as ages 11 and 12, are at risk of becoming sexually exploited. This is happening right here, in our state, in our backyards. We need to continue to all that we can to help bring an end to this deplorable practice of selling people, particularly children, for sex.”

The Polaris Project, a nonprofit, non-governmental organization that works to combat and prevent modern-day slavery and human trafficking, used data collected by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline and determined that between 2001 and 2012 New York, California, Texas and Florida received the most potential reports of human trafficking. New York City was identified as a hub for human trafficking.

Andrew Lanza (R-24) sponsored the legislation in the Senate.