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Committee advances bill requiring short‑term accommodation providers to complete trafficking‑awareness training
Summary
House Bill 1654 would require every short‑term accommodation provider to complete an approved training course on recognizing and reporting suspected human trafficking; the committee adopted a substitute and technical amendment and reported the bill, 16–4.
House Bill 1654, which would require short‑term accommodation providers to complete an approved training course on recognizing and reporting suspected human trafficking, was reported from the House Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns after the committee adopted a substitute and a technical amendment.
The bill, as amended in committee, mandates that each short‑term accommodation provider complete an approved training course. The Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is assigned authority to approve or disapprove online or in‑person training; committee members adopted a technical clarification to show that DCJS would make an approved online training course available.
Delegate Sewell, speaking for the subcommittee, explained that the subcommittee recommended reporting with a substitute and that a minor technical amendment was requested by stakeholders to assist DCJS’s administration of the program. Delegate McNamara spoke against the measure on the floor of the committee, saying the requirement is too broad for certain types of short‑term hosts and may not produce the intended results. "I do not believe that this—that I need training to hit accept or not accept off a platform that is...the accommodations provider is providing," McNamara said, adding she expected the bill to have limited practical effect for many Hosts.
Other members urged support. Chair Sewell said human trafficking is pervasive in Virginia and described broader public‑safety reasons to expand training. After debate and the clerk’s roll call, the committee reported HB 1654 by a vote of 16–4.
The committee adopted a committee substitute and an additional technical amendment to clarify DCJS’s role and the availability of online training. The substitute text and the technical amendment were moved and adopted on the record prior to the final roll call.
Next steps: HB 1654 was reported by the committee and will move forward in the House process; any floor amendments or additional committee referrals will appear in official bill tracking.
