A raft of bills aimed at curbing human trafficking passed the state's House this week, moving the bills to the state Senate.

One of the bills, House Bill 231, is sponsored by state Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, and aims to add certain acts to existing law that, if committed, constitute the crime of unlawful contact with a minor. These acts include human trafficking offenses involving sexual servitude and other offenses involving sexual abuse of a minor. All of the bills passed with bipartisan support.

“It really is untalked about,” Mustello said of human trafficking. “It's just an area where we either don't know what's there or don't know it's there, but it's happening right under our noses. It's getting closer to us. Youngstown is right over the border, and we have a lot of interstate travel methods all around us, so we need to start talking about this and not allow it to grow into our smaller communities, and stop it from growing in larger communities.”

In April, state lawmakers advanced the package of bills from the House Judiciary Committee, led by chairman state Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-89th. In a release, Kauffman said the bills “would put more teeth into the penalties for those who commit this heinous crime.”

He continued, “The number of cases continues to rise, and catching these criminals is often quite difficult with victims being too scared, threatened, drug addicted or manipulated by their traffickers to actively reach out for help.”

Kaufman personally authored House Bill 1096, which would allow a statutory civil action to take place in the court of common pleas where the alleged violation occurred or where the individual resides. Current law only allows the latter.

Many of the bills deal with the criminal prosecution side. House Bill 580 would expand the list of offenses for which an expert may testify on the dynamics of sexual violence in sexual assault and domestic violence cases to include human trafficking offenses involving sexual servitude and other criminal offenses involving sexual abuse of a minor.

House Bill 753 would increase the grading for the offense of “dealing in infant children” from a misdemeanor of the first degree to a felony of the first degree.

Other bills deal with civil matters. House Bill 843 would add human trafficking offenses to the list of convictions affecting a child custody determination.

If a party has one of these convictions and seeks child custody, the court must first determine that the party does not pose a threat of harm to the child before entering a custody order in the party's favor.

And at least one bill aims at rehabilitating offenders. House Bill 1147 would expand the list of offenses that require state inmates to attend and participate in a Department of Corrections program of counseling or therapy designed for sex offenders to those convicted of offenses relating to sexual servitude or other offenses involving the sexual abuse of a minor.