PocketLaw | Georgia Code | Posting Model Notice With Human Trafficking

Posting Model Notice With Human Trafficking Hotline Information in Businesses and on Internet

Checkout our iOS App for a better way to browser and research.

As used in this Code section, the term:
1. "Adult entertainment establishment" means any place of business or commercial establishment wherein:
  1. The entertainment or activity therein consists of nude or substantially nude persons dancing with or without music or engaged in movements of a sexual nature or movements simulating sexual intercourse, oral copulation, sodomy, or masturbation;
  2. The patron directly or indirectly is charged a fee or required to make a purchase in order to view entertainment or activity which consists of persons exhibiting or modeling lingerie or similar undergarments; or
  3. The patron directly or indirectly is charged a fee to engage in personal contact by employees, devices, or equipment, or by personnel provided by the establishment.
    Such term shall include, but shall not be limited to, bathhouses, lingerie modeling studios, and related or similar activities. Such term shall not include businesses or commercial establishments which have as their sole purpose the improvement of health and physical fitness through special equipment and facilities, rather than entertainment.
2. "Agricultural products" means raising, growing, harvesting, or storing crops; feeding, breeding, or managing livestock, equine, or poultry; producing or storing feed for use in the production of livestock, including, but not limited to, cattle, calves, swine, hogs, goats, sheep, equine, and rabbits, or for use in the production of poultry, including, but not limited to, chickens, hens, ratites, and turkeys; producing plants, trees, Christmas trees, fowl, equine, or animals; or producing aquacultural, horticultural, viticultural, silvicultural, grass sod, dairy, livestock, poultry, egg, and apiarian products.
3. "Bar" means an establishment that is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of those beverages, including, but not limited to, taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, and cabarets.
4. "Day hauler" means any person who is employed by a farm labor contractor to transport, or who for a fee transports, by motor vehicle, workers to render personal services in connection with the production of any farm products to, for, or under the direction of a third person; provided, however, that such term shall not include a person who produces agricultural products.
5. "Farm labor contractor" means any person who, for a fee, employs workers to render personal services in connection with the production of any farm products to, for, or under the direction of a third person, or who recruits, solicits, supplies, or hires workers on behalf of an employer engaged in the growing or producing of farm products, and who, for a fee, provides in connection therewith one or more of the following services: furnishes board, lodging, or transportation for those workers; supervises, times, checks, counts, weighs, or otherwise directs or measures their work; or disburses wage payments to such persons; provided, however, that such term shall not include a person who produces agricultural products.
  (5.1) "Government building with public access" means a building or portion of a building owned or leased by a government entity.
  
  (5.2) "Government entity" means an office, agency, authority, department, commission, board, body, division, instrumentality, or institution of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the state government and any county, municipal corporation, or consolidated government within this state.
6. "Hotel" means any hotel, inn, or other establishment which offers overnight accommodations to the public for hire.
7. "Massage therapist" means a person licensed pursuant to Chapter 24A of Title 43.
8. "Primary airport" shall have the same meaning as set forth in 49 U.S.C. Section 47102(16).
9. "Substantially nude" means dressed in a manner so as to display any portion of the female breast below the top of the areola or displaying any portion of any person's pubic hair, anus, cleft of the buttocks, vulva, or genitals.
10. "Truck stop" means a privately owned and operated facility that provides food, fuel, shower or other sanitary facilities, and lawful overnight truck parking.
Effective September 15, 2013, the following businesses and other establishments shall post the notice described in subsection (c) of this Code section, or a substantially similar notice, in English, Spanish, and any other language deemed appropriate by the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, in each public restroom for the business or establishment and either in a conspicuous place near the public entrance of the business or establishment or in another conspicuous location in clear view of the public and employees where similar notices are customarily posted:
1. Adult entertainment establishments;
2. Bars;
3. Primary airports;
4. Passenger rail or light rail stations;
5. Bus stations;
6. Truck stops;
7. Emergency rooms within general acute care hospitals;
8. Urgent care centers;
9. Farm labor contractors and day haulers;
10. Privately operated job recruitment centers;
11. Safety rest areas located along interstate highways in this state;
12. Hotels;
13. Businesses and establishments that offer massage or bodywork services by a person who is not a massage therapist; and
14. Government buildings; provided, however, that in the case of leased property, this paragraph shall only apply to public restrooms that are a part of such lease for exclusive use by the government entity.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation shall develop a model notice that is available for download from its Internet website. Such notice shall be at least 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches in size and printed in a 16 point font in English, Spanish, and any other language deemed appropriate by the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Such model notice shall provide information giving individuals a method to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the Statewide Georgia Hotline for Domestic Minor Trafficking.
1. A law enforcement officer shall notify, in writing, any business or establishment that has failed to comply with this Code section that it has failed to comply with the requirements of this Code section and if it does not correct the violation within 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice, the owner of such business or establishment shall be charged with a violation of this Code section and upon conviction shall be guilty of the misdemeanor offense of failure to post the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline number and may be punished by a fine of not more than $500.00; but the provisions of Chapter 11 of Title 17 and any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the costs of such prosecution shall not be taxed nor shall any additional penalty, fee, or surcharge to a fine for such offense be assessed against an owner for conviction thereof. Upon a second or subsequent conviction, the owner shall be guilty of a high and aggravated misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $5,000.00. The notice required by this subsection may be hand delivered to the noncomplying business or establishment or mailed to it at the address of such business or establishment.
2. This subsection shall not apply to government entities.

(c.1)Every government entity shall, on the homepage of its website, provide an identified hyperlink to the model notice that is on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation website as provided for in subsection (c) of this Code section.

(Code 1981, §16-5-47, enacted by Ga. L. 2013, p. 620, § 1/HB 141; Ga. L. 2017, p. 417, § 4-1/SB 104; Ga. L. 2017, p. 489, § 2/HB 341.)

The 2017 amendments. The first 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, substituted "storing crops" for "storing of crops" near the beginning of paragraph (a)(2); substituted "producing aqua- cultural" for "the production of aquacultural" near the end of paragraph (a)(2); added paragraphs (a)(5.1) and (a)(5.2); deleted "and" at the end of paragraph (b)(12); added "; and" at the end of paragraph (b)(13); and added paragraph (b)(14); added subsection (c.1); designated the existing provisions of subsection (d) as paragraph (d)(1) and added paragraph (d)(2); and deleted former subsection (e), which read: "This Code section shall be repealed in its entirety on January 1, 2019, unless extended by an Act of the General Assembly.". The second 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, rewrote subsection (c); and deleted former subsection (e), which read: "This Code section shall be repealed in its entirety on January 1, 2019, unless extended by an Act of the General Assembly.".

Law reviews.

- For article on the 2013 enactment of this Code section, see 30 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 119 (2013). For article on the 2017 amendment of this Code section, see 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 61 (2017). For annual survey on criminal law, see 69 Mercer L. Rev. 73 (2017).

ARTICLE 4 RECKLESS CONDUCT

Cross references.

- Reckless driving, § 40-6-390.

Download our app to see the most-to-date content.