A bi-partisan coalition of 49 attorneys general, including Bob Ferguson of Washington state, has requested Congress take action in the fight against prostitution and sex trafficking. In a letter sent to Congress, the attorneys general pleaded for an amendment to the Communications Decency Act, which would give criminal jurisdiction to local prosecutors.

The Communications Decency Act was passed in 1996 and was originally intended to protect children from accessing inappropriate content on the Web. The way it is written has allowed immunity to websites that promote human sex trafficking, such as Backpage.com, according to Ferguson.

“Human trafficking is modern day slavery,” Ferguson said in a press release. “The Communications Decency Act needs to be modernized to provide local prosecutors the tools to strike back against those who use technology to promote the sexual exploitation of children.”

Ferguson is currently co-chair of the 2013-2014 NAAG Human Trafficking Committee.