I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1427 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for priority for making 

payments for lodging expenses for Federal employees that are booked 

in places with policies to protect individuals from severe forms of human 

trafficking, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2019 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of 

New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for priority 

for making payments for lodging expenses for Federal 

employees that are booked in places with policies to 

protect individuals from 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. PRIORITY FOR ACCOMMODATION IN PLACES 

2 WITH CERTAIN POLICIES RELATING TO SE3 VERE FORMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 

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

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

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘§ 5712. Priority for accommodation in places with 

8 certain policies relating to severe forms 

9 of human trafficking 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of making pay11 ments under this chapter for lodging expenses each agency 

12 shall ensure that, to the extent practicable, commercial13 lodging room nights in the United States for employees 

14 of that agency are booked in a preferred place of accom15 modation. 

16 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY AS A PREFERRED PLACE OF AC17 COMMODATION.—To be considered a preferred place of ac18 commodation, a hotel, motel, or other place of public ac19 commodation shall— 

20 ‘‘(1) enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding 

21 severe forms of trafficking in persons (as defined in 

22 section 103(11) of the Trafficking Victims Protec23 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(11))) developed 

24 by the Administer of the General Services Adminis25 tration under subsection (c)(1), or a similar zero-tolVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427

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1 erance policy developed by the place of accommoda2 tion, demonstrated by— 

3 ‘‘(A) attesting through the website of the 

4 General Services Administration to the use of a 

5 zero-tolerance policy; 

6 ‘‘(B) posting such policy in a non-public 

7 space within the place of accommodation that is 

8 accessible by all employees; or 

9 ‘‘(C) including such policy in the employee 

10 handbook; 

11 ‘‘(2) have procedures in place for employees to 

12 identify and report any such exploitation to the ap13 propriate law enforcement authorities and to hotel 

14 management; 

15 ‘‘(3) post the informational materials developed 

16 under subsection (c)(3) in an appropriate non-public 

17 space within the place of accommodation that is ac18 cessible by all employees; 

19 ‘‘(4) require each employee who is physically lo20 cated at the place of accommodation and who is like21 ly to interact with guests including security, front 

22 desk, housekeeping, room service and bell staff to 

23 complete the training developed under subsection 

24 (c)(2), or a training developed pursuant to sub25 section (d), that shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) take place not later than 180 days 

2 after the starting date of the employee, or in 

3 the case of an employee starting employment 

4 before the effective date of this section, not 

5 later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

6 of this section; and 

7 ‘‘(B) include training on the identification 

8 of possible cases of sexual exploitation of chil9 dren and procedures to report suspected abuse 

10 to the appropriate authorities; 

11 ‘‘(5) include a notice to all independent contrac12 tors in any agreement negotiated or renewed on or 

13 after the date of enactment of this section that 

14 states the following: ‘Federal law prohibits the traf15 ficking of humans under the Trafficking Victims 

16 Protection Act (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).’; 

17 ‘‘(6) ensure that the place of accommodation 

18 does not retaliate against employees for reporting 

19 suspected cases of such exploitation if reported ac20 cording to protocol identified in the employee train21 ing; and 

22 ‘‘(7) keep records, to the extent permissible by 

23 law and on an individual hotel property basis, of 

24 each suspected case of such exploitation that is re25 ported to accommodation management or law enVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427

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1 forcement, including the date, approximate time, and 

2 the name of the accommodation manager or law en3 forcement agency to which the report was made. 

4 ‘‘(c) GSA REQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator of 

5 General Services shall— 

6 ‘‘(1) develop, and make available on the Inter7 net website of the General Services Administration, 

8 a zero-tolerance policy for places of accommodation 

9 regarding severe forms of trafficking in persons (as 

10 defined in section 103(11) of the Trafficking Victims 

11 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(11))), in12 cluding informational materials regarding such pol13 icy to be posted in places of accommodation in non14 public spaces; 

15 ‘‘(2) make available on its Internet website a 

16 list of Federal Government and privately produced 

17 training programs that address the identification of 

18 severe forms of human trafficking and reporting to 

19 law enforcement authorities; 

20 ‘‘(3) in coordination with the Secretary of 

21 Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign, develop train22 ing materials on preventing severe forms of human 

23 trafficking and informational materials to be posted 

24 in non-public spaces in places of accommodation on 

25 spotting the signs of severe forms of human trafVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427

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1 ficking and reporting possible incidences of such ex2 ploitation; and 

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

4 accommodation that meets the requirements of sub5 section (b), beginning by examining places of accom6 modation that are— 

7 ‘‘(A) enrolled in government travel pro8 grams such as FedRooms; 

9 ‘‘(B) included on the FEMA Fire Safe 

10 List; or 

11 ‘‘(C) otherwise known to have received gov12 ernment travel business in the 2 years prior to 

13 enactment of this section. 

14 ‘‘(d) TRAINING PROGRAMS.—A place of accommoda15 tion or lodging company may use a training program de16 veloped or acquired by such place of accommodation or 

17 company to satisfy the requirements of subsection (b)(4) 

18 if such training program— 

19 ‘‘(1) focuses on identifying and reporting sus20 pected cases of severe forms of human trafficking; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(2) was developed in consultation with a glob23 ally or nationally recognized organization with exper24 tise in anti-trafficking initiatives. 

25 ‘‘(e) PREVIOUSLY TRAINED EMPLOYEES.— 


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

2 Any employee of a place of accommodation who has 

3 been trained to identify and report potential cases of 

4 severe forms of human trafficking prior to the effec5 tive date of this section shall be considered to have 

6 met the training requirement in subsection (b)(4) 

7 with respect to any employment at that place of ac8 commodation or at any another place of accommoda9 tion managed by the same entity. 

10 ‘‘(2) TRAINING PRIOR TO A TRANSFER OF EM11 PLOYMENT.—Any employee of a place of accommo12 dation who has met the training requirements under 

13 subsection (b)(4) shall be considered to have met 

14 such requirements with respect to any employment 

15 at a place of accommodation managed by the same 

16 entity. 

17 ‘‘(f) PROPERTY-BY-PROPERTY IMPLEMENTATION.— 

18 Compliance with the requirements of this section shall be 

19 assessed and enforced separately for each individual place 

20 of accommodation. Lack of compliance by one place of ac21 commodation shall not impact the eligibility of affiliated 

22 places of accommodation to receive funds from Federal 

23 employee travel. Lack of compliance by a franchisee shall 

24 not impact the eligibility of the respective franchisor for 


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1 other places of accommodation affiliated with that 

2 franchisor. 

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

4 this Act that applies to an employee of a place of accom5 modation shall be construed to apply to an individual who 

6 is an independent contractor or otherwise not directly em7 ployed by a place of accommodation, unless the contract 

8 is for housekeeping services. 

9 ‘‘(h) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The Administrator 

10 of General Services shall issue such regulations as are nec11 essary to carry out this section.’’. 

12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 5712(a) of title 5, 

13 United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), shall 

14 take effect on the later of— 

15 (1) the date that is 1 year after the date of en16 actment of this Act; and 

17 (2) 60 days after the completion of the require18 ments under subsections (c) and (d) of such section. 

19 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec20 tions for subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United 

21 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing new item: 

‘‘5712. Priority for accommodation in places with certain policies relating to severe forms of human trafficking.’’. 

Æ 


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