TALLAHASSEE — A measure to bolster the state’s ability to combat modern-day slavery passed its first House committee Wednesday at the urging of law enforcement officials who say lawmakers need to address a growing problem.

Sponsored by Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, the measure, House Bill 469, would expand the definition of human trafficking while allowing the state to add racketeering to the charges brought against traffickers as well as give victims the ability to sue their captors.

Mirroring Senate Bill 250 that passed its first committee last month, backers say the measure is needed to address a $9 billion international black market that brings often unwitting victims to the United States as sex slaves, farm laborers, domestics and housekeepers. It passed the House Criminal Justice Committee by a unanimous vote.

The federal government estimates that up to 800,000 victims are illegally transported across borders around the world, including 14,000 to 17,000 who are trafficked into the United States.

“Many of the trafficked are lured to America with the promise of steady jobs only upon arriving to be held captive,” Gannon told reporters. “Young men and women (are) forced to have sex with paying strangers or to work in sweatshops and in the fields.”

Among its major provisions, the bill would:

-- add racketeering charges that would allow the state to seek financial penalties along with criminal penalties;

-- allow victims to seek civil damages from their abductors;

-- expand the definition of forced labor to include isolation or confiscation of identification documents or immigration papers;

-- provide educational material to circuit court judges and employees to better spot the signs of trafficking;

-- expand ability to prosecute the financial transactions and other activities associated with human trafficking.

State efforts to bolster trafficking statutes were prompted by national efforts and highly publicized cases, including 2002 trafficking convictions of Ramiro, Juan, and Jose Luis Ramos who held workers against their will at a labor camp near Lake Placid.

A 14-year-old Guatemalan girl, who told investigators she was boarded in a Cape Coral home and forced to work, drew global attention last year. Investigators in Lee and Collier counties are pursuing cases.

Laura Germino, anti-slavery campaign coordinator for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, praised the inclusion of psychological threats as part of forced labor in the bill. The group has helped free more than 1,000 people through its work to root out trafficking.

“That is such an important part,” she said, adding that traffickers frequently lord threats over victims that keep them mentally trapped.

“We’ve had people in the past have employers say things like, ‘If you go to the law, we’ll cut your tongues out. If you keep asking questions, we’ll pump you full of lead.’ “

Anna Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, said victims live in a shadow world. The coalition provides services to trafficking victims with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Without documents and alone, they often don’t speak English and are far away from family and friends.

“Victims are not going to call us,” said Rodriguez, who was invited by Gannon to Wednesday’s press conference about the bill.

“We must be proactive in seeking out those victims and the criminal enterprises that victimize them. Once victims are rescued, we must help restore their life, their dignity and their sense of self-worth,” she said.

Doug Molloy, chief assistant U.S. attorney, who has prosecuted human trafficking cases in Southwest Florida, said making judges aware trafficking exists and is a problem is as crucial as informing the public.

“I think that’s an excellent idea,” he said. “They need training that slavery exists in the same way anybody in the system needs training.”

Several trafficking combatants said training on human slavery should extend beyond judges to law enforcers, state and federal prosecutors, health workers and all state agencies.

Nola Theiss, chairwoman of the Coalition Against Human Trafficking in Southwest Florida, said the proposal is an improvement but Florida law enforcers still need more tools — especially when it comes to human smuggling — to fight human trafficking.

Smuggling can switch to trafficking if the trafficker doesn’t let the person free once they cross the border.

“This bill is probably a good next step toward creating a law which is really effective but we need more input from law enforcement to make sure it’s going to be the best legislation,” she said.

Lt. Bill Rule, head of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office anti-trafficking unit, was in Tallahassee at Wednesday’s press conference.

As its frequency increases, Rule said the biggest challenge is to educate law enforcement officials and build cooperation between federal officers, local police and other public service workers who may come in contact with victims and their captors.

“We will in the end have more investigations. We will have more arrests,” Rule said. “More victims will be rescued and more perpetrators will be prosecuted.”

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