2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 16 - Crimes and Offenses › Chapter 3 - Offenses Against The Person › Section 16-3-2100. Posting of information regarding National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline in certain establishments; fines.

(A) The following establishments are required to post the information contained in subsection (B) regarding the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline:
(1) an establishment which has been declared a nuisance for prostitution pursuant to Chapter 43, Title 15;
(2) an adult business, including a nightclub, bar, restaurant, or another similar establishment in which a person appears in a state of sexually explicit nudity, as defined in Section 16-15-375, or seminudity, as defined in Section 57-25-120;
(3) businesses and establishments that offer massage or bodywork services by any person who is not licensed under Chapter 30, Title 40;
(4) emergency rooms within any hospital;
(5) urgent care centers;
(6) any hotel, motel, room, or accommodation furnished to transients for which fees are charged in this State;
(7) all agricultural labor contractors and agricultural labor transporters as defined pursuant to Section 41-27-120; and
(8) all airports, train stations, bus stations, rest areas, and truck stops.
(B) The information must be posted in each public restroom for the business or establishment and a prominent location conspicuous to the public at the entrance of the establishment where posters and notices are customarily posted on a poster no smaller than eight and one-half by eleven inches in size and must state in both English and Spanish on the same poster information relevant to the hotline, including the following or language substantially similar:
"If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave, whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, or any other activity, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to access help and services. Victims of human trafficking are protected under federal law and the laws of South Carolina. The hotline is:
(1) available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week;
(2) operated by a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization;
(3) anonymous and confidential;
(4) accessible in one hundred seventy languages;
(5) able to provide help, referral to services, training, and general information."
(C) The Department of Revenue, the State Law Enforcement Division, and the Department of Transportation, as appropriate depending on the regulatory control or authority the respective department exercises over the establishment, are directed to provide each establishment with the notice required to be posted by this section. The departments shall post on the departments' websites a sample of the notice required to be posted which must be accessible for download. The business must download and post the notice in not less than sixteen point font.
(D) The Department of Revenue, the State Law Enforcement Division, or the Department of Transportation, as appropriate, is authorized to issue a written warning to an establishment which fails to post the required notice provided in this section and may assess a fine of not more than fifty dollars for each subsequent violation. Each day that the establishment remains in violation of this section is considered a separate and distinct violation and the establishment may be fined accordingly.
(E) The South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force, Department of Revenue, and Department of Transportation are directed to collaborate on the design of the required notice to be posted and may partner to develop materials, and shall have the design finalized no later than one hundred twenty days after the effective date of this section. Establishments required to post the notice must be in compliance no later than six months after the effective date of this action.
(F) This section does not apply to establishments providing entertainment in theatres, concert halls, art centers, museums, or similar establishments that are devoted primarily to the arts or theatrical performances when the performances presented are expressing matters of serious literary, artistic, scientific, or political value.
HISTORY: 2015 Act No. 7 (S.196), Section 4, eff April 2, 2015.