Hello!

My name is Sonal Sharma and I am currently a senior at Northgate High School in

Walnut Creek, California. My whole life I have lived in Concord, California, which is where my
parents first arrived when they reached the United States of America from India. I having a
loving family that includes my understanding mother, humorous father, my caring sister, and of
course my adorable pet dog. In my free time I enjoy spending time with my family and creating
memories with the ones I love dearly. I enjoy dancing, as I used to put on many Indian
performances when I was younger and now I dance for fun at weddings and receptions of friends
and families. I have a job at the Ygnacio Valley Library where I can interact with patrons on
different kinds of books, help them find the books they need, and allow the library to run more
efficiently and smoothly by organizing the books. As far as my educational plan, I would like to
go on with further studies, like college and Medical School. In college, I would like to major in
Biology with emphasis on the Pre-Med field, which is a very exciting and interesting field that I
find enjoyable and fascinating.
The bill that I focused my attention on is Human Trafficking, which is a crucial issue
around the world, including United States. Myths about human trafficking being a third world
country problem have always been put into the American citizens head because they believe that
its due to the countrys financial standing and reputation. Many people residing in this country
are unaware with the occurrences of this horrible crime or criminal market. The system needs
help with understanding that this issue is really affecting America and better training, as many of
our law enforcement agents are not well informed on the issues, majority of the local police
department had a set opinion on the occurrence of human trafficking, between 73 and 77
percent, of local, county and state law enforcement in the random sample perceive human

trafficking as rare or non-existent crime in their local communities (ncjrs.gov). At the same
time, in the U.S. With 100,000 children estimated to be in the sex trade in the United States
each year (Polarisproject.org, Human Trafficking). These numbers are only counting the
children involved in human trafficking and the number is shockingly large, this clearly shows
that amending the system must take place because is not an non-existent crime. Therefore my
bill specifically lays out several actions that will be taken in order to tackle these issues in a way
that wont decentralize our law enforcement system and will protect our citizens from this
growing crime.