I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9681 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a priority for accommoda-
tion 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 pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Halting Of Trafficking 
and Exploitation in Lodging Act of 2024’’ or the 
‘‘HOTEL Act of 2024’’. 
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SEC. 2. PRIORITY FOR ACCOMMODATION IN PLACES WITH 
ANTI-TRAFFICKING POLICIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 
5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘§ 5712. Priority for accommodation in places with 
anti-trafficking policies 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘place of accommodation’ means 
a hotel, motel, or other place of public accommoda-
tion that is listed by the Administrator of the Fed-
eral Emergency Management Agency as meeting the 
requirements of the fire prevention and control 
guidelines described in section 29 of the Federal 
Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 
2225); and 
‘‘(2) the term ‘severe forms of trafficking in 
persons’ has the meaning given the term in section 
103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 
2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102). 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.—For the purpose of making 
payments under this subchapter for lodging expenses, each 
agency shall ensure that, to the greatest extent prac-
ticable, commercial-lodging room nights in the United 
States for employees of that agency are booked in a pre-
ferred place of accommodation. 
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‘‘(c) ELIGIBILITY AS A PREFERRED PLACE OF AC-
COMMODATION.—To be considered a preferred place of ac-
commodation for the purposes of this section, a place of 
accommodation shall— 
‘‘(1) enforce the zero-tolerance policy regarding 
severe forms of trafficking in persons made available 
by the Administrator of General Services under sub-
section (d)(1), or a similar zero-tolerance policy de-
veloped by the place of accommodation, which shall 
be demonstrated by— 
‘‘(A) posting that policy in a nonpublic 
space within the place of accommodation that is 
accessible by all employees of the place of ac-
commodation; or 
‘‘(B) including that policy in the employee 
handbook for the place of accommodation; 
‘‘(2) have procedures in place, not later than 
180 days after the effective date of this section, for 
employees of the place of accommodation to— 
‘‘(A) identify any severe form of trafficking 
in persons according to protocol identified in 
the employee training based on training mate-
rials developed under subsection (d)(3); and 
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‘‘(B) with respect to any severe form of 
trafficking in persons identified under subpara-
graph (A)— 
‘‘(i) report that activity to— 
‘‘(I) the appropriate law enforce-
ment authorities; 
‘‘(II) management of the place of 
accommodation; or 
‘‘(III) the national human traf-
ficking hotline described in section 
107(b)(1)(B)(ii) of the Trafficking 
Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 
U.S.C. 7105(b)(1)(B)(ii)); or 
‘‘(ii) provide information and re-
sources to the potential victims of that ac-
tivity, including— 
‘‘(I) contact information for the 
appropriate law enforcement authori-
ties; 
‘‘(II) information regarding the 
hotline described in clause (i)(III); or 
‘‘(III) information regarding ap-
propriate local organizations; 
‘‘(3) post the informational materials made 
available under subsection (d)(3) in an appropriate 
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‘‘(6) maintain a current record of every em-
ployee who has completed the training program in 
subsection (e)— 
‘‘(A) if the training is updated in accord-
ance with subsection (e)(3), the place of accom-
modation must update the records of the em-
ployees who retake the training; and 
‘‘(B) records for past employees only need 
to be maintained for two years past the end of 
employment or longer at the discretion of the 
place of accommodation. 
‘‘(d) GSA REQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator of 
General Services shall— 
‘‘(1) make available on the website of the Gen-
eral Services Administration a model zero-tolerance 
policy for places of accommodation regarding severe 
forms of trafficking in persons, including informa-
tional materials regarding that policy to be posted 
within nonpublic spaces; 
‘‘(2) make available on the website of the Gen-
eral Services Administration a list of Department of 
Homeland Security, Department of Health and 
Human Services, Department of Justice, Depart-
ment of State, and privately produced training pro-
grams that address the identification of severe forms 
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of trafficking in persons and submit reports to ap-
propriate law enforcement authorities or the Na-
tional Human Trafficking Hotline; 
‘‘(3) in coordination with the Blue Campaign of 
the Secretary of Homeland Security, make available 
on the website of the General Services Administra-
tion and the Department of Health and Human 
Services training and outreach materials on pre-
venting severe forms of trafficking in persons, infor-
mational materials to be posted in nonpublic spaces 
in places of accommodation on identifying the signs 
of severe forms of trafficking in persons and report-
ing possible incidences of such exploitation, and in-
formational materials to be posted in public or non-
public spaces in places of accommodation on self- 
identifying as a potential victim of severe forms of 
trafficking in persons and how to access services and 
support as such a victim, except that the Adminis-
trator shall permit the use of substantially similar 
training materials or informational materials re-
quired by State or local law on identifying the signs 
of severe forms of trafficking in persons and report-
ing possible incidences of severe forms of trafficking 
in persons in lieu of materials developed under this 
paragraph; and 
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‘‘(4) maintain a list of each preferred place of 
accommodation that— 
‘‘(A) meets the requirements of subsection 
(c); and 
‘‘(B) is— 
‘‘(i) participating in governmental 
lodging programs, such as FedRooms (or 
any successor system); 
‘‘(ii) included on the list maintained 
by the Administrator of the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency pursuant to 
section 28 of the Federal Fire Prevention 
and Control Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 2224); 
or 
‘‘(iii) otherwise known to have re-
ceived governmental travel business during 
the 2-year period preceding the effective 
date of this section. 
‘‘(e) TRAINING PROGRAMS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A place of accommodation 
may use a training program developed or acquired 
by that place of accommodation or company to sat-
isfy the requirements of subsection (c)(4) if that 
training program— 
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‘‘(A) focuses on identifying and reporting 
suspected cases of severe forms of trafficking in 
persons; and 
‘‘(B) was developed in consultation with— 
‘‘(i) a State government; 
‘‘(ii) survivors or lived experience ex-
perts of human trafficking; 
‘‘(iii) survivor-led anti-trafficking or-
ganization; or 
‘‘(iv) any organization nationally rec-
ognized for its expertise in anti-trafficking 
initiatives and which actively involves sur-
vivor-leaders in consultations. 
‘‘(2) REVIEW.—Training program materials de-
scribed in paragraph (1) shall be— 
‘‘(A) not less frequently than once every 2 
years, reviewed by the applicable place of ac-
commodation and, if necessary, updated based 
on that review; and 
‘‘(B) delivered to employees of the place of 
accommodation after any update under sub-
paragraph (A). 
‘‘(f) PREVIOUSLY TRAINED EMPLOYEES.— 
‘‘(1) TRAINING PRIOR TO EFFECTIVE DATE.— 
Any employee of a place of accommodation who has 
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been trained to identify and report potential cases of 
severe forms of trafficking in persons before the ef-
fective date of this section shall be considered to 
have satisfied the training requirement under sub-
section (c)(4) with respect to any employment at 
that place of accommodation or at any another place 
of accommodation managed by the same entity. 
‘‘(2) TRAINING PRIOR TO A TRANSFER OF EM-
PLOYMENT.—Any employee of a place of accommo-
dation who has met the training requirements under 
subsection (c)(4) shall be considered to have satis-
fied those requirements with respect to any employ-
ment at a place of accommodation managed by the 
same entity. 
‘‘(g) PROPERTY-BY-PROPERTY IMPLEMENTATION.— 
‘‘(1) SELF-CERTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 
after the effective date of this section, and bien-
nially thereafter, each preferred place of accom-
modation shall submit to the Administrator of 
General Services a written self-certification that 
the place of accommodation is in compliance 
with the requirements of this section. 
‘‘(B) NOTICE; REPORTING.—The Adminis-
trator of General Services shall— 
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‘‘(i) provide notice to each place of ac-
commodation regarding any self-certifi-
cation that the place of accommodation is 
required to submit under this subsection 
not later than the date that is 60 days be-
fore the date on which that such self-cer-
tification is required; and 
‘‘(ii) not later than 1 year after the 
effective date of this section, and biennially 
thereafter, submit to the Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Af-
fairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
Oversight and Reform of the House of 
Representatives a report regarding each 
preferred places of accommodation that, 
for the period covered by the report, sub-
mitted and did not submit the self-certifi-
cations required under this subsection. 
‘‘(2) GROUP CERTIFICATION.—A person or enti-
ty that manages or franchises multiple places of ac-
commodation may provide a single notice with re-
spect to self-certification under paragraph (1) that 
each such place of accommodation is in compliance 
with the requirements of this section. The notice 
must list all the places of accommodation that are 
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