Title: HOTEL Act
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Heightened Oversight of Travel, Eating, and Lodging Act of 2019 or the HOTEL Act
This bill prohibits federal agencies from using U.S. government funds to pay for expenses at lodging establishments that are owned by or employ certain public officials or their relatives, including by providing travel reimbursement or a per diem allowance for the cost of lodging, with exceptions.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2485 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2485

  To prohibit Federal agencies from using Government funds to pay for 
expenses at lodging establishments that are owned by or employ certain 
                  public officials or their relatives.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 17, 2019

   Mr. Peters (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Udall, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. 
 Bennet, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Brown, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Carper, Mr. Casey, 
   Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein, Mrs. 
   Gillibrand, Ms. Harris, Ms. Hassan, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Hirono, Mr. 
 Kaine, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Markey, Mr. Menendez, 
 Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. 
 Sinema, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Tester, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Whitehouse, and 
  Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit Federal agencies from using Government funds to pay for 
expenses at lodging establishments that are owned by or employ certain 
                  public officials or their relatives.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Heightened Oversight of Travel, 
Eating, and Lodging Act of 2019'' or the ``HOTEL Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON GOVERNMENT SPENDING.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' means--
                    (A) an Executive agency (as defined in section 105 
                of title 5, United States Code), a military department 
                (as defined in section 102 of title 5, United States 
                Code), or any other establishment in the executive 
                branch (including the Executive Office of the 
                President, the United States Postal Service, and the 
                Postal Regulatory Commission);
                    (B) an office, agency, or other establishment in 
                the legislative branch; and
                    (C) an office, agency, or other establishment in 
                the judicial branch.
            (2) Beneficial owner.--
                    (A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph 
                (B), the term ``beneficial owner'', with respect to a 
                lodging establishment, means an individual who, 
                directly or indirectly, through any contract, 
                arrangement, understanding, relationship, or 
                otherwise--
                            (i) exercises control over the 
                        establishment; or
                            (ii) has a substantial interest in or 
                        receives substantial economic benefits from the 
                        assets of the establishment.
                    (B) Exceptions.--The term ``beneficial owner'' does 
                not include, with respect to a lodging establishment--
                            (i) a person acting as a nominee, 
                        intermediary, custodian, or agent on behalf of 
                        another person; or
                            (ii) a creditor of the establishment, 
                        unless the creditor also meets the requirements 
                        of subparagraph (A).
                    (C) Anti-abuse rule.--The exceptions under 
                subparagraph (B) shall not apply if used for the 
                purpose of evading, circumventing, or abusing the 
                requirements of this Act.
            (3) Control.--The term ``control'', with respect to a 
        lodging establishment, means--
                    (A) having the authority or ability to determine 
                how the establishment is utilized; or
                    (B) having decision-making power for the use of the 
                establishment.
            (4) Covered establishment.--The term ``covered 
        establishment'' means a lodging establishment that meets one or 
        more of the following criteria:
                    (A) A covered individual is the highest-level 
                owner, an immediate owner, or a beneficial owner of the 
                establishment.
                    (B) The establishment employs a covered individual 
                described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (D) of paragraph 
                (5).
            (5) Covered individual.--The term ``covered individual'' 
        means--
                    (A) the President;
                    (B) the Vice President;
                    (C) a relative of the President or Vice President; 
                and
                    (D) with respect to an agency that is an Executive 
                department, the head of the Executive department.
            (6) Executive department.--The term ``Executive 
        department'' has the meaning given the term in section 101 of 
        title 5, United States Code.
            (7) Federal employee.--The term ``Federal employee''--
                    (A) means an individual employed in or under an 
                agency, including--
                            (i) an individual employed intermittently 
                        in the Government service as an expert or 
                        consultant and paid on a daily when-actually-
                        employed basis; and
                            (ii) an individual serving without pay or 
                        at $1 a year; and
                    (B) includes--
                            (i) the President;
                            (ii) the Vice President;
                            (iii) a Member of Congress; and
                            (iv) any judge or justice who is entitled 
                        to hold office during good behavior.
            (8) Highest-level owner.--The term ``highest-level owner'', 
        with respect to a lodging establishment, means the person that 
        owns or controls one or more of the following:
                    (A) An immediate owner of the establishment.
                    (B) A person that owns or controls an immediate 
                owner of the establishment.
            (9) Immediate owner.--The term ``immediate owner'', with 
        respect to a lodging establishment, means a person that has 
        direct control of the establishment, including ownership or 
        interlocking management, identity of interests among family 
        members, shared facilities and equipment, and the common use of 
        employees.
            (10) Lodging establishment.--The term ``lodging 
        establishment'' means a hotel, motel, or other entity that 
        provides lodging in exchange for a fee.
            (11) Per diem allowance.--The term ``per diem allowance'' 
        means a per diem allowance, as defined in section 5701 of title 
        5, United States Code, or any similar allowance to which a 
        Federal employee is entitled, including any amounts made 
        available to the head or other senior officer of an agency to 
        pay for subsistence or other expenses related to travel.
            (12) Relative.--The term ``relative'' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 3110(a) of title 5, United States Code.
            (13) Substantial economic benefits.--The term ``substantial 
        economic benefits'', with respect to a lodging establishment, 
        means having an entitlement to the funds or assets of the 
        establishment that, as a practical matter, enables a person, 
        directly or indirectly, to control, manage, or direct the 
        establishment.
            (14) Travel reimbursement.--The term ``travel 
        reimbursement'' means reimbursement for actual and necessary 
        expenses of official travel under section 5702 of title 5, 
        United States Code, or any similar reimbursement to which a 
        Federal employee is entitled.
    (b) Prohibition.--The Federal Government may not authorize, pay 
for, reimburse, contract for, or procure any good or service at or from 
a covered establishment, including by providing travel reimbursement or 
a per diem allowance for the cost of lodging or any other expense at a 
covered establishment.
    (c) Exceptions.--
            (1) In general.--Subsection (b) shall not apply to--
                    (A) an expenditure by the United States Secret 
                Service or any other agency for protective services 
                relating to the protection of individuals;
                    (B) an expenditure that, in the case of a lodging 
                establishment located in the United States, the 
                Secretary of Homeland Security, or, in the case of an 
                establishment located outside of the United States, the 
                Secretary of State, determines is necessary for 
                purposes of providing--
                            (i) humanitarian assistance; or
                            (ii) disaster relief or other urgent life-
                        saving measures; or
                    (C) an expenditure by an agency at a covered 
                establishment that is the only lodging establishment 
                that would meet statutory or regulatory requirements 
                for lodging or other expenses during official travel, 
                if, with respect to an expenditure by--
                            (i) an agency described in subsection 
                        (a)(1)(A), a written waiver is issued by the 
                        designated agency ethics official (as defined 
                        in section 109 of the Ethics in Government Act 
                        of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.)) of the agency;
                            (ii) an office, agency, or other 
                        establishment in the Senate, a written waiver 
                        is issued by an official designated by the 
                        Select Committee on Ethics of the Senate;
                            (iii) an office, agency, or other 
                        establishment in the House of Representatives, 
                        a written waiver is issued by an official 
                        designated by the Committee on Ethics of the 
                        House of Representatives;
                            (iv) an agency described in subsection 
                        (a)(1)(B) that is not in the Senate or the 
                        House of Representatives, a written waiver is 
                        issued by an official designated by the head of 
                        the agency; and
                            (v) an agency described in subsection 
                        (a)(1)(C), a written waiver is issued by an 
                        official designated by the Judicial Conference 
                        of the United States.
            (2) Reporting requirement.--
                    (A) Immediate report.--
                            (i) In general.--Not later than 90 days 
                        after the date on which an agency makes an 
                        expenditure that would be prohibited under 
                        subsection (b) but for the exception under 
                        paragraph (1) of this subsection, the agency 
                        shall submit a report describing the 
                        expenditure to the appropriate agency or 
                        official, including a copy of each waiver 
                        issued under paragraph (1)(C), if any.
                            (ii) Appropriate agency or official.--For 
                        purposes of clause (i), the term ``appropriate 
                        agency or official'', in the case of an 
                        expenditure by--
                                    (I) an agency described in 
                                subsection (a)(1)(A), or an agency 
                                described in subsection (a)(1)(B) that 
                                is not in the Senate or the House of 
                                Representatives, means the Office of 
                                Government Ethics;
                                    (II) an office, agency, or other 
                                establishment in the Senate, means the 
                                Secretary of the Senate;
                                    (III) an office, agency, or other 
                                establishment in the House of 
                                Representatives, means the Clerk of the 
                                House of Representatives; and
                                    (IV) an agency described in 
                                subsection (a)(1)(C), means the 
                                Judicial Conference of the United 
                                States.
                    (B) Annual report to congress.--Not later than 60 
                days after the end of each fiscal year, an agency shall 
                submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
                Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
                Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives a 
                report that--
                            (i) states whether the agency made an 
                        expenditure described in subparagraph (A)(i) 
                        during the fiscal year; and
                            (ii) if the agency made an expenditure 
                        described in subparagraph (A)(i) during the 
                        fiscal year, describes each expenditure made, 
                        and each waiver issued, during the fiscal year.
    (d) Regulations and Procedures.--
            (1) Executive branch.--The Director of the Office of 
        Government Ethics shall issue any regulations or procedures 
        necessary to carry out this section with respect to 
        expenditures by an agency described in subsection (a)(1)(A).
            (2) Legislative branch.--
                    (A) Senate.--The Select Committee on Ethics of the 
                Senate shall issue any regulations or procedures 
                necessary to carry out this section with respect to 
                expenditures by an office, agency, or other 
                establishment in the Senate.
                    (B) House of representatives.--The Committee on 
                Ethics of the House of Representatives shall issue any 
                regulations or procedures necessary to carry out this 
                section with respect to expenditures by an office, 
                agency, or other establishment in the House of 
                Representatives.
                    (C) Other legislative branch agencies.--The head of 
                each agency described in subsection (a)(1)(B) that is 
                not in the Senate or the House of Representatives shall 
                issue any regulations or procedures necessary to carry 
                out this section with respect to expenditures by that 
                agency.
            (3) Judicial branch.--The Judicial Conference of the United 
        States (or such other agency as it may designate) shall issue 
        any regulations or procedures necessary to carry out this 
        section with respect to expenditures by an agency described in 
        subsection (a)(1)(C).
            (4) Parallel regulations and procedures.--The regulations 
        or procedures issued under paragraphs (2) and (3) shall be the 
        same as substantive regulations or procedures issued by the 
        Director of the Office of Government Ethics under paragraph (1) 
        except to the extent that an agency issuing regulations or 
        procedures under paragraph (2) or (3) may determine, for good 
        cause shown and stated together with the regulations or 
        procedures, that a modification of the regulations or 
        procedures issued under paragraph (1) would be more effective 
        for the implementation of this section with respect to the 
        agency or agencies to which the regulations or procedures 
        issued under paragraph (2) or (3) will apply.
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