Human Trafficking Awareness Training Recognition Act of 2024

Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish a Blue Campaign Certification Program (in this section referred to as the Program) to encourage efforts by employers in covered industries to encourage employees to complete training to recognize and respond to suspected human trafficking. The Secretary shall provide a certificate of completion to eligible employers.

During each year in which the Secretary provides a certificate of completion, the Secretary shall solicit applications, beginning not later than January 31 and ending not earlier than April 30, from employers to consider whether such employers should receive such certificate.

The Secretary, in consultation with the Director of Homeland Security Investigations, shall review each application received in a year.

The Secretary shall require each employer who submits an application to provide in such application—

(A) information about the training to recognize and respond to suspected human trafficking that such employer provided to the employees of such employer; and

(B) any other information the Secretary determines appropriate.

The Secretary shall provide a certificate of completion to each employer whom the Secretary determines is eligible. The certificate of completion shall state that the recipient may display such certificate for a 1-year period beginning on the date on which such certificate is provided.

The Secretary shall recognize each such recipient through publication in the Federal Register.

It is prohibited for any employer to publicly display a Blue Campaign Certification of Completion—

(1) for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression that the employer completed the Blue Campaign Certification Program, if such employer did not complete such Program; or

(2) for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression that the employer received a certificate of completion through the Blue Campaign Certification Program for a year for which such employer did not receive such certificate.

During each year beginning not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate, a report on the Program, including—

(1) the number of employers who submitted an application for Blue Campaign Certification in the prior year;

(2) the fees collected under subsection (f) from such employers, and any changes in fees to be proposed in the present year;

(3) the number of Blue Campaign Certifications of Completion provided in the prior year, including the name of each employer to whom a Blue Campaign Certification of Completion was awarded;

(4) the cost of administering the Program in the prior year; and

(5) any other matter the Secretary determines appropriate.

The Secretary is authorized to establish a reasonable fee to be imposed on employers submitting applications for a Blue Campaign Certification of Completion to cover the cost of carrying out the Program.

In this section:

The term covered industry means any industry that the Secretary has determined—

(A) has a relatively high prevalence of human trafficking; and

(B) that human trafficking awareness training could have a significant impact.

The term employer has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203), except that such term does not include a public agency (as defined in such section 3).

The term human trafficking has the meaning given the term severe forms of trafficking in person in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102).

The term Secretary of Homeland Security means the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Director of the Blue Campaign.

The term training means the training to recognize and respond to suspected human trafficking.

(1) in paragraph (7), by striking and at the end;

(2) by redesignating paragraph (8) as paragraph (9); and

(3) by inserting after paragraph (7) the following:

(8) increased coordination with experts from the private sector, academic institutions, and other covered industries (as such term is defined in section 434A).