Nassau County is looking to ban hourly motel bookings and require hotels to keep a detailed log of all guests — part of an effort to put the squeeze on sleazy spots where sex trafficking runs rampant.
A new bill from County Legislator Michael Giangregorio would end any bookings under eight hours and also force all hotels and motels to document all guests’ names, addresses and keep copies of their photo IDs for five years.
The businesses would also be forced to preserve all security footage for at least 90 days and train new employees on how to recognize the signs of human trafficking.
“This law is a critical step in protecting our community from human trafficking,” Presiding Officer of the legislature Howard Kopel told The Post about the bill.
“By banning hourly hotel and motel rentals and requiring stronger safeguards, like verified guest records, security footage retention, and staff training, we are closing loopholes that traffickers too often exploit,” the Republican majority leader added.
The proposal has already unanimously passed through the county’s Public Safety Committee and could become law by the end of the month. It mirrors similar crackdowns already on the books in neighboring Suffolk County and in New York City.
Under the law, if passed, operators who sidestep the new rules would be slapped with fines ranging from $500 to $5,000 for repeat offenders — the same penalties as the Big Apple’s version — while Suffolk’s variation, which was passed last year, hits serial violators harder than both with fines as high as $10,000.
Giangregorio, a Republican who represents Merrick, said the goal was to lock sex traffickers out of Long Island — which has become known as a nationwide hub for trafficking due to its intricate highway systems, cheap rooms compared to Queens and Brooklyn, and its proximity to the city.
“This legislation is about protecting our community, making it harder for traffickers to operate, and taking a strong stand against human trafficking,” Giangregorio said.
He added that many of the hotel and motel rooms being rented out to traffic helpless victims for sex are right in resident’s backyards without them even knowing, and some are even near schools.
In fact, police in both counties have made busts at roughly 60 hotels and motels across the Island for sex trafficking or prostitution — and almost 20% of the cases involved child victims, officials confirmed.
“When rooms are rented by the hour, nothing good happens,” Giangregorio said.
Multiple hospitality groups declined to comment on whether they support the legislation.
