Law Enforcement Letter Endorsing FOSTA-SESTA w/No Amendments

March 19, 2018 

Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Democratic Leader Schumer, 

We, the undersigned organizations, representing prosecutors, chiefs of police, sheriffs, rank and file officers and chief executives of state investigative agencies at the federal, state, and local level, write to urge a clean vote this week in the Senate on the House-passed FOSTA/SESTA package so that victims and federal and state law enforcement can better seek to hold all responsible parties accountable for the facilitation of sex trafficking. At the same time, we urge you to reject the proposed amendment that would create a shield for companies vaguely attempting to filter content on their websites and the proposed amendment that would provide additional funding through the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute website operators that criminally facilitate sex trafficking. Simply put, the amendment to create a liability shield is bad public policy and the funding amendment is a poison pill that is dead on arrival if sent back to the House.  

 As membership organizations charged with protecting our communities, we can’t afford to sacrifice the opportunity to pass good public policy to hold facilitators of sex trafficking accountable. Through extensive discussions over the past couple of years, a delicate balance has been struck among a wide variety of stakeholders to achieve the legislation pending before the Senate. The House passed version, which included language from the Senate SESTA version, was a carefully crafted piece of legislation to help state and local law enforcement bring more of these sex trafficking cases forward and we encourage you to provide us with the tools needed to achieve that goal.  

Sincerely, 

Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies FBI Agents Association Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association International Association of Chiefs of Police Major Cities Chiefs Association Major County Sheriffs of America National Association of Police Organizations National District Attorneys Association National Fusion Center Association National Sheriffs’ Association