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.

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 Com- mittee 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 traf- ficking, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1427 IH SECTION 1. PRIORITY FOR ACCOMMODATION IN PLACES 1 WITH CERTAIN POLICIES RELATING TO SE- 2 VERE FORMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING. 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 certain policies relating to severe forms 8 of human trafficking 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of making pay- 10 ments under this chapter for lodging expenses each agency 11 shall ensure that, to the extent practicable, commercial- 12 lodging room nights in the United States for employees 13 of that agency are booked in a preferred place of accom- 14 modation. 15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY AS A PREFERRED PLACE OF AC- 16 COMMODATION.—To be considered a preferred place of ac- 17 commodation, a hotel, motel, or other place of public ac- 18 commodation shall— 19 ‘‘(1) enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding 20 severe forms of trafficking in persons (as defined in 21 section 103(11) of the Trafficking Victims Protec- 22 tion Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(11))) developed 23 by the Administer of the General Services Adminis- 24 tration under subsection (c)(1), or a similar zero-tol- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1427 IH erance policy developed by the place of accommoda- 1 tion, demonstrated by— 2 ‘‘(A) attesting through the website of the 3 General Services Administration to the use of a 4 zero-tolerance policy; 5 ‘‘(B) posting such policy in a non-public 6 space within the place of accommodation that is 7 accessible by all employees; or 8 ‘‘(C) including such policy in the employee 9 handbook; 10 ‘‘(2) have procedures in place for employees to 11 identify and report any such exploitation to the ap- 12 propriate law enforcement authorities and to hotel 13 management; 14 ‘‘(3) post the informational materials developed 15 under subsection (c)(3) in an appropriate non-public 16 space within the place of accommodation that is ac- 17 cessible by all employees; 18 ‘‘(4) require each employee who is physically lo- 19 cated at the place of accommodation and who is like- 20 ly to interact with guests including security, front 21 desk, housekeeping, room service and bell staff to 22 complete the training developed under subsection 23 (c)(2), or a training developed pursuant to sub- 24 section (d), that shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1427 IH ‘‘(A) take place not later than 180 days 1 after the starting date of the employee, or in 2 the case of an employee starting employment 3 before the effective date of this section, not 4 later than 180 days after the date of enactment 5 of this section; and 6 ‘‘(B) include training on the identification 7 of possible cases of sexual exploitation of chil- 8 dren and procedures to report suspected abuse 9 to the appropriate authorities; 10 ‘‘(5) include a notice to all independent contrac- 11 tors in any agreement negotiated or renewed on or 12 after the date of enactment of this section that 13 states the following: ‘Federal law prohibits the traf- 14 ficking of humans under the Trafficking Victims 15 Protection Act (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.).’; 16 ‘‘(6) ensure that the place of accommodation 17 does not retaliate against employees for reporting 18 suspected cases of such exploitation if reported ac- 19 cording to protocol identified in the employee train- 20 ing; and 21 ‘‘(7) keep records, to the extent permissible by 22 law and on an individual hotel property basis, of 23 each suspected case of such exploitation that is re- 24 ported to accommodation management or law en- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1427 IH forcement, including the date, approximate time, and 1 the name of the accommodation manager or law en- 2 forcement agency to which the report was made. 3 ‘‘(c) GSA REQUIREMENTS.—The Administrator of 4 General Services shall— 5 ‘‘(1) develop, and make available on the Inter- 6 net website of the General Services Administration, 7 a zero-tolerance policy for places of accommodation 8 regarding severe forms of trafficking in persons (as 9 defined in section 103(11) of the Trafficking Victims 10 Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102(11))), in- 11 cluding informational materials regarding such pol- 12 icy to be posted in places of accommodation in non- 13 public spaces; 14 ‘‘(2) make available on its Internet website a 15 list of Federal Government and privately produced 16 training programs that address the identification of 17 severe forms of human trafficking and reporting to 18 law enforcement authorities; 19 ‘‘(3) in coordination with the Secretary of 20 Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign, develop train- 21 ing materials on preventing severe forms of human 22 trafficking and informational materials to be posted 23 in non-public spaces in places of accommodation on 24 spotting the signs of severe forms of human traf- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1427 IH ficking and reporting possible incidences of such ex- 1 ploitation; and 2 ‘‘(4) maintain a list of each preferred place of 3 accommodation that meets the requirements of sub- 4 section (b), beginning by examining places of accom- 5 modation that are— 6 ‘‘(A) enrolled in government travel pro- 7 grams such as FedRooms; 8 ‘‘(B) included on the FEMA Fire Safe 9 List; or 10 ‘‘(C) otherwise known to have received gov- 11 ernment travel business in the 2 years prior to 12 enactment of this section. 13 ‘‘(d) TRAINING PROGRAMS.—A place of accommoda- 14 tion or lodging company may use a training program de- 15 veloped or acquired by such place of accommodation or 16 company to satisfy the requirements of subsection (b)(4) 17 if such training program— 18 ‘‘(1) focuses on identifying and reporting sus- 19 pected cases of severe forms of human trafficking; 20 and 21 ‘‘(2) was developed in consultation with a glob- 22 ally or nationally recognized organization with exper- 23 tise in anti-trafficking initiatives. 24 ‘‘(e) PREVIOUSLY TRAINED EMPLOYEES.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1427 IH ‘‘(1) TRAINING PRIOR TO EFFECTIVE DATE.— 1 Any employee of a place of accommodation who has 2 been trained to identify and report potential cases of 3 severe forms of human trafficking prior to the effec- 4 tive date of this section shall be considered to have 5 met the training requirement in subsection (b)(4) 6 with respect to any employment at that place of ac- 7 commodation or at any another place of accommoda- 8 tion managed by the same entity. 9 ‘‘(2) TRAINING PRIOR TO A TRANSFER OF EM- 10 PLOYMENT.—Any employee of a place of accommo- 11 dation who has met the training requirements under 12 subsection (b)(4) shall be considered to have met 13 such requirements with respect to any employment 14 at a place of accommodation managed by the same 15 entity. 16 ‘‘(f) PROPERTY-BY-PROPERTY IMPLEMENTATION.— 17 Compliance with the requirements of this section shall be 18 assessed and enforced separately for each individual place 19 of accommodation. Lack of compliance by one place of ac- 20 commodation shall not impact the eligibility of affiliated 21 places of accommodation to receive funds from Federal 22 employee travel. Lack of compliance by a franchisee shall 23 not impact the eligibility of the respective franchisor for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1427 IH other places of accommodation affiliated with that 1 franchisor. 2 ‘‘(g) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—No provision in 3 this Act that applies to an employee of a place of accom- 4 modation shall be construed to apply to an individual who 5 is an independent contractor or otherwise not directly em- 6 ployed by a place of accommodation, unless the contract 7 is for housekeeping services. 8 ‘‘(h) REGULATIONS REQUIRED.—The Administrator 9 of General Services shall issue such regulations as are nec- 10 essary to carry out this section.’’. 11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 5712(a) of title 5, 12 United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), shall 13 take effect on the later of— 14 (1) the date that is 1 year after the date of en- 15 actment of this Act; and 16 (2) 60 days after the completion of the require- 17 ments under subsections (c) and (d) of such section. 18 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 19 tions for subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United 20 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 21 lowing new item: 22 ‘‘5712. Priority for accommodation in places with certain policies relating to se- vere forms of human trafficking.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Mar 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1427.IH H1427 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS