Some recent Senate bills of note:

S.B. 351: No Felon as Sheriff, Sen. Stan Bingham

S.B. 353: N.C. Human Trafficking Commission, Sen. Ellie Kinnaird

S.B. 362: Retired Teachers Return to Work, Sen. A.B. Swindell

The 2007 session ended late last night.

The legislature passed bills on a wide range of topics, some important, some not so much.

A few of the major bills will:

Prohibit new lagoons and sprayfields, set permanent standards for treating hog waste and create a program to help farmers convert to innovative waste systems.

Require state agencies with more than $10 million annual budgets, more than 100 full-time employees or more than $10 million in annual receipts to hire internal auditors.

Guarantee state-funded housing, counseling and other services for victims of a crime in which people, often immigrants, are imprisoned and forced to work for little or no pay.

Change birthday cutoff so fewer 4-year-olds will be eligible to start kindergarten.

Acknowledge the Wilmington Race Riot commission's findings and express "profound regret."

Throughout the morning, we'll list other bills that passed.

The Senate unanimously passed a bill today that would help the victims of human trafficking.

The bill would guarantee state-funded housing, counseling and other services for victims of a crime in which people, often immigrants, are imprisoned and forced to work for little or no pay, reports Kristin Collins.

The bill would also mandate training for law enforcement officers to help them recognize victims of a rarely prosecuted crime.

The bill now goes to the House.

The Senate passed a bill to help victims of human trafficking.

The legislation would give similar benefits to them that the state already gives to domestic violence victims, including legal help and address confidentiality.

Under a provision added to the final version, it would give some benefits to illegal immigrants usually reserved for legal residents, but halt them once they are deported.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat who sponsored the bill and has worked on the issue, said that it was necessary to combat trafficking along Interstates 85 and 95.

"Human trafficking is the largest criminal enterprise in the world after drug trafficking," she said.

The measure passed unanimously and goes back to the House.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families will announce a program Tuesday to educate agencies and individuals about human trafficking in North Carolina and across the country.

The federal department estimates that 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into the United States every year, reports Barb Barrett.

Several high-profile cases have come up in North Carolina in recent years, including a sex ring in the Triangle and a legal suit filed by 22 Thai farm workers from Johnston County earlier this year.

The federal program comes alongside an ongoing statewide coalition that has been working several years to train social services and law enforcement agencies about how to identify and help trafficking victims.

Read more after jump.

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