HARRISBURG – Legislation sponsored by Pennsylvania Anti-Human Trafficking (AHT) Caucus Chairman Sen. Cris Dush (R-25) aimed at helping the Pennsylvania attorney general and law enforcement more effectively target and prosecute human trafficking was signed into law today.
Requested and fully supported by the Office of Attorney General, Act 41 of 2026 relocates most prostitution offenses to the human trafficking section of the state Crimes Code, enhances the penalties for several of those offenses and places these offenses under the enforcement jurisdiction of the Office of Attorney General.
“No child ever aspires to be a prostitute,” said Dush. “Act 41 specifically increases criminal penalties for those who prey upon vulnerable individuals who have been groomed, manipulated and forced into ‘The Life.’ The fundamental purpose of this new law remains and has always been giving the AG’s Office full jurisdiction to comprehensively combat prostitution and the scourge of sex trafficking across the commonwealth.”
Passed by overwhelming bipartisan margins in both chambers of the General Assembly, this new law also consolidates crimes related to human trafficking within the Crimes Code, giving the attorney general concurrent jurisdiction so these crimes, which are frequently the basis for large-scale human trafficking organizations, can be prosecuted more effectively.
“Again, this new law is absolutely not designed to prosecute the vulnerable,” said Dush. “The Johns, the pimps, the abusers of those young boys and girls, young women and men are targets. Those that traffic children, those who rent the bodies of these young people trying to survive The Life, those PREDATORS are the targets!”
Under Act 41, fines paid by those convicted of patronizing prostitutes will be split between the state’s Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund and the Prevention of Human Trafficking Account established in Pennsylvania’s General Fund.
Dush concluded by once again expressing his gratitude to Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-41) and all PA AHT Caucus co-chairs which include: Sen. Maria Collett (D-12), Sen. Marty Flynn (D-22), Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-28), Rep. Danilo Burgos (D-197), Rep. Kate Klunk (R-169), Rep. Clint Owlett (R-68) and Rep. Regina Young (D-185).
“This group of eight tremendous and innovative legislators have formed this caucus with the goal of speeding up passage of impactful legislation through evaluating and making bipartisan and bicameral recommendations to each of the four sets of leadership in the General Assembly and the governor,” said Dush. “Let’s give the attorney general and prosecutors the tools they need. Let’s give our judges the ability to make punishment for predatory abusers fit the horror they inflict on the vulnerable.”
More information on Act 41 of 2026 and the PA AHT caucus is available here.
Through force, fraud and coercion, human traffickers push their victims into demeaning forms of abuse, including domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. If you suspect someone is being trafficked, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
DUSH CONTACT: Ty McCauslin, 717-787-7084