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Hotels, lodging groups back bill requiring annual human‑trafficking awareness training for staff
Summary
The House Corporations Committee heard near‑unanimous support March 25 for a bill requiring hotel employees and short‑term rental hosts to receive annual human‑trafficking awareness training; industry groups said training already exists and the bill would standardize and expand it.
Representatives of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, the American Hotel and Lodging Association and industry operators told the House Committee on Corporations on March 25 that human‑trafficking awareness training for hotel employees is effective, already used by many brands, and should be required annually for hotel staff and short‑term rental operators.
Farooq (a hospitality association representative) told the committee he had firsthand experience with mandated training while employed by a hotel brand and said annual repetition made staff better able to identify trafficking indicators. Bianca Castillo of the American Hotel and Lodging Association described the industry’s “No Room for Trafficking” initiative and said the AHLA offers a free training in more than 34 languages; she said more than 2.2 million trainings have been completed nationally.
Bill Walsh of Rhode Island Hospitality said compliance is straightforward and can be accomplished with free online videos and multi‑language resources. Representative Dawson’s bill (House Bill 5563) would require annual training for hotel employees and certain short‑term rental operators registered on hosting platforms in Rhode Island. Committee members asked clarifying questions about the statutory definition of short‑term rental and whether the requirement would reach platform‑listed operators; sponsors said the intent is to target the registry of high‑frequency short‑term rental operators.
Committee members did not take a final vote; witnesses said the measure would standardize existing hotel efforts, expand training to more workers and support victim identification and reporting.
