And it seems lawmakers have finally awakened to the crisis.
For generations, the penalty for purchasing sex in the state was a misdemeanor—hardly a deterrent. Effective December 1, 2024, however, North Carolina became the second state to elevate the penalty for purchasing sex to a felony on the first offense. Now, effective July 1, 2025, the Tar Heel State will mandate human trafficking awareness training for hotel staff, vacation rental managers and contractors. North Carolina joins Florida, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey and Minnesota in the requirement, which also mandates that property managers establish reporting procedures and display awareness signage.
“There [are] a lot of indicators that people don’t think about, but need to be aware of.”
Texas, Illinois and California have similar laws on the books, but require only 20 minutes of training—once a year for Texas, and once every two years for Illinois and California.
Exactly who does North Carolina’s new training mandate apply to? According to Lynn Minges, president and CEO of the NC Restaurant and Lodging Association, “Those who clean rooms, those who serve food, those who check folks into hotels—anybody who has interactions with hotel guests.”
Minges pointed out that hotels are often exploited by human traffickers, being within a stone’s throw of interstates and major roadways. “[Criminals are] typically on the run. They’re moving quickly. They don’t want to be detected, and they will check into all kinds of accommodations,” she explained. “We do not condone illegal activities in hotels, and we want to do our part to make sure we’re stopping it.”
Niki Miller, the operations director with Shield NC, a nonprofit that combats human trafficking, described one indicator to look out for: A trafficker often “wants to have a room that’s next to an exit stairwell or overlooking the parking lot,” she said, affording him or her a quick getaway if the need arises. “There [are] a lot of indicators that people don’t think about, but need to be aware of.”
Hence the mandate.
New employees must complete training within 60 days of starting, while existing employees must do so by June 30, 2027. All must renew every two years and will be fined $500 for the first noncompliance and up to $2,000 for additional ones.
Every year an estimated 300,000 children are victims of sex trafficking, according to the Safe House Project, a national anti-trafficking nonprofit. Of those, 99 percent are never identified. The key to eradicating the blight, they say, is education, and they’ve educated over 400,000 to date to identify the crime and report indicators of it.
With enough people on the alert, trafficking cannot thrive.
A few states, and now North Carolina, are doing their part. Where are the rest?
