HB118: Codifying Alaska’s Council on Human & Sex Trafficking
Contributed by Staci Yates, MY House – Director of Human Trafficking Recovery Services
Why should we create a Council of Human and Sex Trafficking for the state of Alaska? Do we really have a problem with human and sex trafficking here? What would be the benefit of having a council to address this problem? The Governor’s Council on Human and Sex Trafficking was established by Administrative Order 328 by Governor Dunleavy to combat the exploitation of Alaskans. I have had the honor of serving on this council since 2022, and I am proud of the hard work we have put into it. In 2022, we produced a report for Governor Dunleavy with recommended strategies to prevent and respond to trafficking in Alaska, including labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
In 2023, we continued our efforts by creating the first ever data document for Alaska, reporting human and sex trafficking numbers across the state. We collaborated with organizations such as Love Alaska, Priceless, MY House, Covenant House, Alaska Institute for Justice, National Human Trafficking Hotline, Council on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault, Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, Anchorage FBI, Anchorage Police Department, Alaska Department of Public Safety, Department of Law, Division of Juvenile Justice, and the Office of Children’s Services. We compiled data from all these sources to evaluate and assess the impact of trafficking on Alaskan people. These reports clearly show that we do indeed have a problem with trafficking in Alaska.
You can view the data documents for 2023 and 2024 at dps.alaska.gov/CHST/ Home and see for yourself. If HB118 passes, our council can continue to gather data yearly from our stakeholders, tracking progress on prevention, intervention, and recovery for those who are impacted by this terrible crime. This data will also help develop programs to aid survivors in finding help.
According to Officer L.D. Howard of the Chickaloon Tribal Police Department, as of February 2025, there are 338,546 online commercial sex ads in Alaska, and 14,500 of those ads are suspected juveniles. 77% of juvenile victims reported being home- less or runaways. We definitely are seeing a trend here at MY House with homeless youth, runaways, and trafficking.
We continuously face opposition from a group that visits Juneau regularly to fight any bill that tries to combat sex trafficking in Alaska. The CUSP (Community United for Safety and Protection), a sex worker alliance, is a group of sex workers wanting to legalize prostitution in Alaska. They oppose any bill that restricts trafficking, imposes more penalties on buyers, or demands age verification for pornography. They claim to protect trafficking victims, but they also want to legalize sex work in Alaska. One of their advocates is a convicted sex trafficker, yet some legislators in Juneau listen to this group and lobby for bills in their favor or don’t support the legislation that would protect and defend children and survivors. This does not reflect the majority of what Alaskans want for our state. This small group is trying to open Alaska to more harm, more prostitution, which results in more trafficking. Legalized prostitution has been shown worldwide to increase sex trafficking.
92% of trafficking victims were abused during their childhood, and Alaska leads in every major child abuse metric. According to the 2019 FBI Uniform Crime Report, Alaska’s rate of sexual assault is four times the national average, and our child sexual assaults are six times the national average. When it comes to these issues, our state is number one—but for all the wrong reasons. Legalized prostitution increases human trafficking. It has been proven that countries that legalize prostitution have higher rates of human trafficking. According to a World Development study conducted in 2012, Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking? The scale effect of legalized prostitution leads to an expansion of the prostitution market, increasing human trafficking. On average, countries where prostitution is legal experience larger reported human trafficking inflows. I encourage you to Google this, study it, and then ask yourself if legalization is a rational, real solution to trafficking. Share and be aware, and don’t believe the pro-prostitution propaganda.
As a parent, I want to protect kids. Let’s expand victim services across Alaska, with housing opportunities and job training for survivors. Let’s find ways to protect Alaska’s most vulnerable from falling into sex trafficking in the first place. How about we demand preventive education in our schools, teaching our kids how to recognize when they are being groomed and what to do about it? Let’s raise public awareness on how to recognize a potential victim and get them help. There is so much more our state should and must do to help Alaskans who are at risk of trafficking or who want to escape but lack services in their areas.
Passing HB118 is more than just a policy decision. It is about protecting our fellow Alaskans from the horrors of exploitation and giving survivors the hope and support they desperately need to rebuild their shattered lives. The Council of Human & Sex Trafficking can do just that! Please call your legislators and ask them to pass HB118. We want all Alaskans safe!