Photo by Kim Veis.

A bill that offers safe harbor to child victims of sex trafficking and mandates their referral to services unanimously passed the D.C. Council Tuesday.

The Sex Trafficking of Minors Prevention Amendment Act of 2014 provides immunity from prosecution to any person under the age of 18 found to engage or offer to engage in a sex act in exchange for something of value. “Through this change, the law will reflect the view that children being sold, or selling themselves, for sex is a form of sexual abuse that victimizes the children,” a Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety report on the bill states. “Victims of sexual abuse should not be arrested, prosecuted, or convicted.”

The bill also mandates additional human trafficking training for Metropolitan Police Department officers, Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services case managers and Child and Family Services social workers. CFSA and DYRS will also be required to implement a screening during the intake process to identify children at-risk of being victimized, and MPD must report a child deemed “critical missing” or who has been missing for more than 30 days to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Beyond a provision that requires the posting of signs at locations where sex trafficking has occurred — added through an amendment by Councilmember Mary Cheh — the bill passed the Council with little opposition. Paul Quander, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice, however, strongly opposed the bill.

In testimony earlier this year, Quander said arrest is sometimes the only tool police have to protect child victims of sex trafficking, called the training requirement “extremely arbitrary and overreaching” and said the new reporting provisions would be a “significant resource drain” on MPD. He also claimed that some children “prostitute through their own volition.”

The bill was not included in Mayor Vincent Gray’s legislative meeting letter to the Council, which states his support and disapproval of legislation being considered. Advocates involved in the drafting of the bill were not aware of any continuing objections from the mayor’s office.

A spokesperson for Quander said the Deputy Mayor had not “reviewed the new legislation as passed” and therefore couldn’t comment at this time.