Sponsors (4)
Creates a DHS Blue Campaign Certification Program to recognize employers who complete approved human trafficking awareness training and requires DHS reporting on the program.
The bill aims to improve detection and response to human trafficking through training, certification, and public–private collaboration—boosting victim identification and institutional guidance—but does so at the cost of fees, administrative burdens, privacy/transparency risks, and additional DHS resource needs that may limit participation and coverage.
Workers in covered industries, law enforcement, and victim-service organizations will receive standardized, research-informed training and guidance that increases the likelihood that trafficking victims are identified and assisted.
DHS and law enforcement will get improved guidance that integrates private-sector and academic expertise, strengthening detection and prevention efforts across public and private sectors.
DHS must report annually on applications, fees, recipients, and costs to relevant committees, increasing transparency and congressional oversight of the program.
Small businesses face application fees and new administrative requirements to obtain certification, which could deter participation and reduce the program's reach—leaving workers and trafficking victims less protected.
Publication of certificate recipients and greater private-sector involvement risk privacy, reputational harm, conflicts of interest, and proprietary limits on transparency of guidance and tools.
Administering, vetting, and coordinating outside experts for the program will impose ongoing DHS staffing and review costs that could divert agency resources or require sustained fee-recovery to avoid burdening taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a Blue Campaign Certification Program to encourage employers in covered industries to encourage employees to complete training to recognize and respond to suspected human trafficking, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 22, 2026 by David G. Valadao · Last progress January 22, 2026
Creates a DHS Blue Campaign Certification Program that encourages private-sector employers in specified "covered industries" to provide employee training to recognize and respond to suspected human trafficking and allows eligible employers to receive a one-year certificate of completion. DHS must set up the program within one year, run an annual application cycle, may charge reasonable application fees, publish certificate recipients, and begin periodic reporting to relevant House and Senate homeland security committees within two years. Also amends existing Blue Campaign guidance to explicitly require increased coordination with private-sector, academic, and covered-industry experts when developing guidance and training materials, broadening the campaign's coordination partners.