Representative Vance, sponsor of House Bill 118, told the House Judiciary Committee on March 28 that the bill would place the Council on Human Trafficking into statute, require regular meetings and public notice, and permit the council to receive and award state and federal grants to support trafficking response and prevention.

Committee members debated two amendments. Amendment 1, offered by Chair Gray and adopted without objection, adds one member who is a leader of a labor or trade organization to improve on‑the‑ground representation for labor trafficking concerns. Representative Gray said the change came from public testimony and that trade organizations and non‑union trade groups work side‑by‑side with workers and can spot labor trafficking on job sites.

Amendment 2 initially would have added a seat specifically for a survivor of human trafficking. Committee members raised concerns about forcing survivors into a single public role that could expose them or require them to repeatedly recount trauma. After discussion, committee members adopted a conceptual change and then a formal substitution: the amendment was amended on the floor to make the seat a public member position rather than explicitly a survivor seat. Committee members expressed legislative intent that appointment processes should prefer candidates with lived experience when feasible, while preserving options for survivors to participate through advocacy organizations or as public members without mandatory public labelling.

Members also discussed conflict‑of‑interest safeguards tied to the council’s grant and contracting authority. Committee staff and Representative Ballinger said the bill mirrors language used in existing state practice (drawn from the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault model) that: (1) bars appointment of a public member who receives compensation from or is an employee of state human‑trafficking crisis intervention or prevention program, and (2) specifies members receive no salary. Representative Costello and others noted Alaska’s Executive Ethics Act (AS 39.52) also governs conflicts of interest and financial disclosure for board and commission members; staff agreed to provide the committee with relevant precedent and statutory text on recusal and conflict rules.

Committee members discussed operational details that would follow statute placement: the bill requires quarterly meetings (creating a transparent, recurring public meeting schedule for a statutory council that previously met irregularly); it confirms the council may administer state and federal grants; and it includes conflict‑of‑interest language intended to prevent public members from voting to award state funds directly to organizations that employ them. Representative Mena asked whether volunteer board members could serve while their organizations still applied for grants; staff said paid employees would be ineligible for public membership but volunteers could serve and recusal rules would apply if a conflict arose.

Representative Hunter White and other members spoke in favor of advancing the measure. After adoption of both amendments and additional discussion, Representative Underwood moved House Bill 118, as amended (work order 3034‑LS0316/I), from the Judiciary Committee with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes. The committee advanced the bill with no objections on the record; staff were authorized to make conforming changes.

Representative Vance closed by urging continued attention to both sex‑trafficking and labor‑trafficking elements and by thanking committee members for collaborative work. Committee staff said they would provide follow‑up material on meeting frequency records for the existing council and on conflict‑of‑interest precedents used by other state boards.

Votes at a glance: amendment 1 — adopted (no objection); amendment 2 — adopted as amended to replace a survivor‑specific seat with a public member seat (no objection); final motion to move HB 118 forward to the next stage with individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes — adopted (no objection).