Thursday, May 4, 2017 HOUSE JOURNAL — 62nd Day (cont d’ )

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HB 1404 was passed to engrossment. (Button, Craddick, Flynn, Phillips,
and Rinaldi recorded voting no.)
(Speaker in the chair)
ADDRESS BY REPRESENTATIVE S.iTHOMPSON
ON A MATTER OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE
The speaker recognized Representative S. Thompson who addressed the
house on a matter of personal privilege, speaking as follows:
One of the things that I have been privileged to do is to be a member of this
body for a very long time, and I m
’ grateful to the people that I represent who
have held confidence in me to give me the privilege to serve with some of the
greatest people on earth. That includes you, Sticky. Tinderholt, it includes you;
Rinaldi; and Schaefer. Mr.iBiedermann, I haven t’ had a chance to work with you
long enough, but I do think that you r’e an addition to the body.
I don t’ get bent out of shape when people oppose my legislation. You know,
there are people who come to committees and testify against my bills all the time,
but I don t’ get angry. Many times, I learn something from them. Sometimes, I
withdraw my legislation, because they have convinced me that the legislation I
carry is not good. But they are people just like you that I care about. I care about
those who are defenseless, voiceless, and cannot help themselves. You may
recall, last session of the legislature, we had a bill on this floor that dealt with
special needs children. Those are the children, some of them who go to public
school, who many times are injured but cannot speak and articulate what
happened to them. We wanted to put cameras in the classroom. We had some
disagreements. The bill was killed and given the Lazarus life, and it came back,
and we passed it. I care about those kids, because they cannot tell you what
happened to them.
I worked many sessions on human trafficking. It took us a long time to
convince people that it is a problem within our state. These are the persons––not
always foreigners, because 83ipercent of them are domestic––they are in our
neighborhoods. They are in our communities. They r’e all over the state, and
people prey on them. Sometimes these kids get angry, and they leave home, and
they get under the auspices of a pimp, and they are pimped. Many of you are
parents just like I am. When your child disappears and you don t’ hear from them,
don t’ tell me you don t’ worry about that. You do. Don t’ tell me you r’e not
concerned about a person who is pimping them and beating them up and giving
them an amount of money that they must go out and prostitute themselves to
bring in nightly or else they get on them and brutalize them. Don t’ tell me you
were not worried about that. I know you are, because we have passed too many
bills in this legislature.
The bill that got knocked today requires beauticians to get some training. We
have persons all over this state––doctors, nurses, teachers, truck drivers, almost
every profession you can think about––trying to learn and be educated on the
signs of human trafficking so that we can save these persons and take them out of
the clutches of the pimp. And when those five persons bumped this bill today, I
had to go back, Representative Sanford, and think about Proverbs 31:8, speak up

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85th LEGISLATURE — REGULAR SESSION

for the voiceless. That s’ our obligation. This bill gives these beauticians
information on how to spot it. Every woman in here who goes to the beauty shop
talks to their beautician, and you talk about things that are personal. They are the
best psychologists I know, and you tell them things. And maybe that person
who s’ a victim cannot call that 800inumber that would be in that beauty shop, but
she can relate to that beautician. Or there may be signs in that person that the
beautician picks up that this person is a victim of human trafficking. So when
they leave, they can call and say, this person was there in my beauty shop, and
they left in such and such a car, and this person brings her every week or every
two weeks to my beauty shop, and be assistance to the police department.
Now, I m
’ going to tell you something. I cursed out several members that
were on that list. I used some bad words, too. I apologize for the bad words if any
of y a’ ll heard. I don t’ apologize to them. But they did come and say that they
would fix the bill, because they feel that it was a mandate. But there are some
things that you v’ e got to mandate. Wouldn t’ you want somebody to rescue your
child? Wouldn t’ you want it? I want it. And how many of you in here want to
help the pimp? Mr.iShaheen, nobody in this body should ever want to help a
pimp traffic a kid or a woman in this state. Nobody should. And that s’ why we
have passed the many pieces of legislation and lead the country in laws and
things to regulate and to punish people when we find this thing out. I don t’ want
to be a person who helps the pimp. I want to help the victim. They promised that
they were going to fix this bill, but let me tell you something. Our law
enforcement puts their lives on the line when they go in and bust up these rings
and these massage parlor and things and release women and sometimes men out
of the clutches of pimps. I don t’ want to make it easy for them. I want to make it
hard for them. I want to catch them.
And I want to say something else. I m
’ a Christian, and I m
’ here on a mission
to do the will of God. And it does not mean protecting the pimp. It means that I m
’
going to protect and do everything possible for the victim and the voiceless and
those who need help. I thank you, my colleagues, for wanting to make the
changes. I understand now what you r’e position is, but you didn t’ talk to me
before, and that s’ why you got that cuss out awhile ago. But you know I love
you, and I hope that a situation like this doesn t’ happen again. For those of you
who are childless, if you had a child, you wouldn t’ want this to happen to that
child. At the end of the day, when we are able to rescue these victims, they bring
with them a big price tag for society who have been robbed of their skills,
individuality, and the contribution they make. We have to pick up the pieces and
pay for psychiatric care and housing and treatments for them, and the pimp has
gotten away scot-free with money rattling in his pocket. And I know that nobody,
not even those who were on that bump-off list, want to make that happen. So
Mr.iSpeaker, members, thank you.
REMARKS ORDERED PRINTED
Representative Farrar moved to print remarks by Representative
S.iThompson.
The motion prevailed.