I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9681 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a priority for accommodation in places with policies relating to severe forms of human trafficking, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2024 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 

Accountability 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a priority 

for accommodation in places with policies relating to 

severe forms of human trafficking, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Halting Of Trafficking 

5 and Exploitation in Lodging Act of 2024’’ or the 

6 ‘‘HOTEL Act of 2024’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PRIORITY FOR ACCOMMODATION IN PLACES WITH 

2 ANTI-TRAFFICKING POLICIES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

4 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following: 

6 ‘‘§ 5712. Priority for accommodation in places with 

7 anti-trafficking policies 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘place of accommodation’ means 

10 a hotel, motel, or other place of public accommoda11 tion that is listed by the Administrator of the Fed12 eral Emergency Management Agency as meeting the 

13 requirements of the fire prevention and control 

14 guidelines described in section 29 of the Federal 

15 Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 

16 2225); and 

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘severe forms of trafficking in 

18 persons’ has the meaning given the term in section 

19 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 

20 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102). 

21 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.—For the purpose of making 

22 payments under this subchapter for lodging expenses, each 

23 agency shall ensure that, to the greatest extent prac24 ticable, commercial-lodging room nights in the United 

25 States for employees of that agency are booked in a pre26 ferred place of accommodation. 


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1 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY AS A PREFERRED PLACE OF AC2 COMMODATION.—To be considered a preferred place of ac3 commodation for the purposes of this section, a place of 

4 accommodation shall— 

5 ‘‘(1) enforce the zero-tolerance policy regarding 

6 severe forms of trafficking in persons made available 

7 by the Administrator of General Services under sub8 section (d)(1), or a similar zero-tolerance policy de9 veloped by the place of accommodation, which shall 

10 be demonstrated by— 

11 ‘‘(A) posting that policy in a nonpublic 

12 space within the place of accommodation that is 

13 accessible by all employees of the place of ac14 commodation; or 

15 ‘‘(B) including that policy in the employee 

16 handbook for the place of accommodation; 

17 ‘‘(2) have procedures in place, not later than 

18 180 days after the effective date of this section, for 

19 employees of the place of accommodation to— 

20 ‘‘(A) identify any severe form of trafficking 

21 in persons according to protocol identified in 

22 the employee training based on training mate23 rials developed under subsection (d)(3); and 


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1 ‘‘(B) with respect to any severe form of 

2 trafficking in persons identified under subpara3 graph (A)— 

4 ‘‘(i) report that activity to— 

5 ‘‘(I) the appropriate law enforce6 ment authorities; 

7 ‘‘(II) management of the place of 

8 accommodation; or 

9 ‘‘(III) the national human traf10 ficking hotline described in section 

11 107(b)(1)(B)(ii) of the Trafficking 

12 Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 

13 U.S.C. 7105(b)(1)(B)(ii)); or 

14 ‘‘(ii) provide information and re15 sources to the potential victims of that ac16 tivity, including— 

17 ‘‘(I) contact information for the 

18 appropriate law enforcement authori19 ties; 

20 ‘‘(II) information regarding the 

21 hotline described in clause (i)(III); or 

22 ‘‘(III) information regarding ap23 propriate local organizations; 

24 ‘‘(3) post the informational materials made 

25 available under subsection (d)(3) in an appropriate 


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1 nonpublic space within the place of accommodation 

2 that is accessible by all employees of the place of ac3 commodation; 

4 ‘‘(4) require each employee of the place of ac5 commodation who is physically located at the place 

6 of accommodation and who is likely to interact with 

7 guests (including, but not limited to security, front 

8 desk, housekeeping, room service, and bell staff), or 

9 who is responsible for hiring, to complete the train10 ing developed under subsection (d)(2), or a training 

11 developed pursuant to subsection (e), which shall— 

12 ‘‘(A) take place not later than 90 days 

13 after the starting date of the employee, or, in 

14 the case of an employee hired before the effec15 tive date of this section, not later than 90 days 

16 after the effective date of this section; and 

17 ‘‘(B) include training on the identification 

18 of all possible cases of severe forms of traf19 ficking in persons; 

20 ‘‘(5) ensure that the place of accommodation 

21 does not retaliate against an employee of the place 

22 of accommodation for reporting suspected cases of 

23 severe forms of trafficking in persons if reported ac24 cording to protocol identified in the training for the 

25 employee; and 


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1 ‘‘(6) maintain a current record of every em2 ployee who has completed the training program in 

3 subsection (e)— 

4 ‘‘(A) if the training is updated in accord5 ance with subsection (e)(3), the place of accom6 modation must update the records of the em7 ployees who retake the training; and 

8 ‘‘(B) records for past employees only need 

9 to be maintained for two years past the end of 

10 employment or longer at the discretion of the 

11 place of accommodation. 

12 ‘‘(d) GSA REQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator of 

13 General Services shall— 

14 ‘‘(1) make available on the website of the Gen15 eral Services Administration a model zero-tolerance 

16 policy for places of accommodation regarding severe 

17 forms of trafficking in persons, including informa18 tional materials regarding that policy to be posted 

19 within nonpublic spaces; 

20 ‘‘(2) make available on the website of the Gen21 eral Services Administration a list of Department of 

22 Homeland Security, Department of Health and 

23 Human Services, Department of Justice, Depart24 ment of State, and privately produced training pro25 grams that address the identification of severe forms 


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1 of trafficking in persons and submit reports to ap2 propriate law enforcement authorities or the Na3 tional Human Trafficking Hotline; 

4 ‘‘(3) in coordination with the Blue Campaign of 

5 the Secretary of Homeland Security, make available 

6 on the website of the General Services Administra7 tion and the Department of Health and Human 

8 Services training and outreach materials on pre9 venting severe forms of trafficking in persons, infor10 mational materials to be posted in nonpublic spaces 

11 in places of accommodation on identifying the signs 

12 of severe forms of trafficking in persons and report13 ing possible incidences of such exploitation, and in14 formational materials to be posted in public or non15 public spaces in places of accommodation on self16 identifying as a potential victim of severe forms of 

17 trafficking in persons and how to access services and 

18 support as such a victim, except that the Adminis19 trator shall permit the use of substantially similar 

20 training materials or informational materials re21 quired by State or local law on identifying the signs 

22 of severe forms of trafficking in persons and report23 ing possible incidences of severe forms of trafficking 

24 in persons in lieu of materials developed under this 

25 paragraph; and 


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1 ‘‘(4) maintain a list of each preferred place of 

2 accommodation that— 

3 ‘‘(A) meets the requirements of subsection 

4 (c); and 

5 ‘‘(B) is— 

6 ‘‘(i) participating in governmental 

7 lodging programs, such as FedRooms (or 

8 any successor system); 

9 ‘‘(ii) included on the list maintained 

10 by the Administrator of the Federal Emer11 gency Management Agency pursuant to 

12 section 28 of the Federal Fire Prevention 

13 and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2224); 

14 or 

15 ‘‘(iii) otherwise known to have re16 ceived governmental travel business during 

17 the 2-year period preceding the effective 

18 date of this section. 

19 ‘‘(e) TRAINING PROGRAMS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A place of accommodation 

21 may use a training program developed or acquired 

22 by that place of accommodation or company to sat23 isfy the requirements of subsection (c)(4) if that 

24 training program— 


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1 ‘‘(A) focuses on identifying and reporting 

2 suspected cases of severe forms of trafficking in 

3 persons; and 

4 ‘‘(B) was developed in consultation with— 

5 ‘‘(i) a State government; 

6 ‘‘(ii) survivors or lived experience ex7 perts of human trafficking; 

8 ‘‘(iii) survivor-led anti-trafficking or9 ganization; or 

10 ‘‘(iv) any organization nationally rec11 ognized for its expertise in anti-trafficking 

12 initiatives and which actively involves sur13 vivor-leaders in consultations. 

14 ‘‘(2) REVIEW.—Training program materials de15 scribed in paragraph (1) shall be— 

16 ‘‘(A) not less frequently than once every 2 

17 years, reviewed by the applicable place of ac18 commodation and, if necessary, updated based 

19 on that review; and 

20 ‘‘(B) delivered to employees of the place of 

21 accommodation after any update under sub22 paragraph (A). 

23 ‘‘(f) PREVIOUSLY TRAINED EMPLOYEES.— 

24 ‘‘(1) TRAINING PRIOR TO EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

25 Any employee of a place of accommodation who has 


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1 been trained to identify and report potential cases of 

2 severe forms of trafficking in persons before the ef3 fective date of this section shall be considered to 

4 have satisfied the training requirement under sub5 section (c)(4) with respect to any employment at 

6 that place of accommodation or at any another place 

7 of accommodation managed by the same entity. 

8 ‘‘(2) TRAINING PRIOR TO A TRANSFER OF EM9 PLOYMENT.—Any employee of a place of accommo10 dation who has met the training requirements under 

11 subsection (c)(4) shall be considered to have satis12 fied those requirements with respect to any employ13 ment at a place of accommodation managed by the 

14 same entity. 

15 ‘‘(g) PROPERTY-BY-PROPERTY IMPLEMENTATION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) SELF-CERTIFICATION.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

18 after the effective date of this section, and bien19 nially thereafter, each preferred place of accom20 modation shall submit to the Administrator of 

21 General Services a written self-certification that 

22 the place of accommodation is in compliance 

23 with the requirements of this section. 

24 ‘‘(B) NOTICE; REPORTING.—The Adminis25 trator of General Services shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) provide notice to each place of ac2 commodation regarding any self-certifi3 cation that the place of accommodation is 

4 required to submit under this subsection 

5 not later than the date that is 60 days be6 fore the date on which that such self-cer7 tification is required; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) not later than 1 year after the 

9 effective date of this section, and biennially 

10 thereafter, submit to the Committee on 

11 Homeland Security and Governmental Af12 fairs of the Senate and the Committee on 

13 Oversight and Reform of the House of 

14 Representatives a report regarding each 

15 preferred places of accommodation that, 

16 for the period covered by the report, sub17 mitted and did not submit the self-certifi18 cations required under this subsection. 

19 ‘‘(2) GROUP CERTIFICATION.—A person or enti20 ty that manages or franchises multiple places of ac21 commodation may provide a single notice with re22 spect to self-certification under paragraph (1) that 

23 each such place of accommodation is in compliance 

24 with the requirements of this section. The notice 

25 must list all the places of accommodation that are 


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1 in compliance with the requirements in subsection 

2 (c). 

3 ‘‘(h) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—No provision in 

4 this section that applies to an employee of a place of ac5 commodation may be construed to apply to an individual 

6 who is an independent contractor of, or is otherwise not 

7 directly employed by, that place of accommodation, unless 

8 the applicable contract is for housekeeping, catering, con9 cierge, or security services, in which case the applicable 

10 service provider shall ensure compliance with the require11 ments of this section. 

12 ‘‘(i) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The Administrator 

13 of General Services shall issue such regulations as are nec14 essary to carry out this section.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

16 for subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States 

17 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘5712. Priority for accommodation in places with anti-trafficking policies.’’. 

18 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

19 this section shall take effect on the date that is 180 days 

20 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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