California Against Slavery

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California Against Slavery (CAS) is a nonprofit organization that created a statewide directory of groups and agencies that help victims and survivors of human trafficking, including sex and labor trafficking. The directory’s goal is to connect survivors, service providers, and concerned citizens to strengthen California’s response to trafficking. The CAS website also has a Resources page with Awareness Materials, Trainings, Legislation, Prevention Education, Research, and Legislative Models.

CAS was founded in 2010 as a 501(c)(4) human rights advocacy group aimed at strengthening California laws to protect trafficking victims, especially minors, and to increase law enforcement efforts. The group hoped to place an initiative on the 2012 California ballot.

CAS promoted Proposition 35 (the CASE Act), saying it had over 81% support and would be the most popular initiative since 1914. The proposal sought to: (1) stiffen criminal penalties, (2) help district attorneys prosecute trafficking offenses, (3) better protect victims, (4) require two hours of human trafficking training for law enforcement, and (5) allocate seized assets and fines to organizations that aid trafficking victims.

CAS was unable to gather the 600,000 signatures needed by the March 31, 2010 deadline for automatic ballot placement. The organization continued to raise awareness and aimed to get an initiative on the ballot in 2012. Daphne Phung of CAS was interviewed on KRON about human trafficking and the group’s efforts.