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Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles: Anti-human trafficking crusader
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The Author with Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-WA)
I'd been reading up on some of the more intriguing pieces of legislation, and latched on to some progress being made in the area of "human trafficking."
So yesterday I went and did an in-depth interview with Washington State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles at her Seattle office in the Queen Anne neighborhood. Kohl-Welles has been in the senate for a decade-and-a-half, and has been focusing on the human and sex trafficking issue for at least seven of those years.
In 2002 the Washington State Task Force Against the Trafficking of Persons was created, the first of its kind in the entire nation. Sen. Kohl-Welles has been part of various progress on the issue ever since.
"Back around 2000, we had two murders of mail-order brides in Seattle," said Kohl-Welles. "One of them was right in the King County Courthouse."
Shortly thereafter, efforts began in the state legislature to create laws regarding human trafficking. Washington became the first state in the country to pass the Mail-Order Bride Act, which requires international matchmaking agencies to provide, upon request, criminal and marital background information on Washington state residents using the agency to meet prospective brides in foreign countries.
More recently. Kohl-Welles was a sponsor of Senate Bill 5850, protecting workers from human trafficking violations. The bill passed the House and Senate this year and was signed by Governor Chris Gregoire, albeit with a partial veto.
"We've still got some work to do on it," said Kohl-Welles.
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