Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Human trafficking measures heads to House

Kentucky’s Attorney General would be given jurisdiction over the state’s human trafficking cases under a bill approved today by the House Judiciary Committee.

Jurisdiction over these cases now lies with Kentucky’s Commonwealth’s Attorneys and county attorneys. House Bill 229 would expand that jurisdiction to the Attorney General’s Office to beef up investigation and prosecution of such cases, said HB 229 sponsor House Majority Caucus Chair Sannie Overly.

“Too often we are finding (these cases) are not progressing through investigation and through to a conviction,” said Overly, D-Paris. HB 229 would help fix that, she said.

Her comments were echoed by Attorney General Andy Beshear who joined Overly before the committee.

“I’m ready to go to work,” Beshear said. “My office is ready to go to work. We’re going to work every single day to make sure we get results.”

HB 229 now goes to the full House for consideration.