U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York) is urging passage of the Human Trafficking Reporting Act 2013, legislation that would require annual reports assessing the progress of each state in the fight against human trafficking. The State Department already requires these reports on a global level.

Reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which was first passed in 2000 and has been reauthorized three times. Update: It was finally approved by the U.S. Senate as part of the Violence Against Women Act on February 12, 2013 and in the House on February 28, 2013. President Obama signed the reauthorization on March 7, 2013.

Make it more difficult for Americans to go overseas and solicit prostitutes. Ken Franzblau of Equality Now said sex tourism fuels demand for prostitution — and demand fuels human trafficking.

Pass comprehensive immigration reform. “Here in the United States, as part of the president’s proposal on comprehensive immigration reform, is the notion of reforming the guest worker program so [workers are] not only protected and there’s more labor inspection and other types of protection like that,” but also so reform meets the needs of employers, said Luis CdeBaca, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. “As long as we don’t have that, we’re going to have human traffickers who are exploiting the cracks in the system.”

Urge businesses to take a zero-tolerance approach to slavery in their supply chains, as Virgin Airlines executive Richard Branson has sworn to do. 

To address human trafficking on the East Coast of the U.S., connect the dots of the underground trade between New York and other cities, including Providence and Boston. Jimmy Lee, of the New York-based group Restore, says law enforcement should concentrate more on the alleged links between organized traffickers who transport women to New England but who start off in New York.

Activists argue that individual states, including Massachusetts and New York, should make it more difficult to license and operate massage parlors. “These businesses are filled with Asian women who don’t have the language skills and who, when they come [here], they were put in these work places,” said Fran Gau, of the New York Asian Women’s Center.

Increase funding for fighting human trafficking. Even though Massachusetts passed a comprehensive anti-human trafficking law in 2011, police still lack the necessary resources to fully implement the law. Locating, arresting and making a strong case against human traffickers requires “expansive, in depth investigations, and we really are short on resources,” said Kelly Nee, Boston Police Deputy Superintendent and a member of the Anti-Trafficking Task Force.