Committee hears bill to require hotel employee training, debate centers on timing and "should have known" standard

Representative Bazemore presented House Bill 490 to the Economic Development & Tourism Committee on a proposal aimed at reducing human trafficking by requiring hotels and motels to provide employee training and by creating criminal penalties when proprietors "knew or should have reasonably known" their premises were being used for trafficking.

The bill’s author, Representative Bazemore, told the committee the measure arose from meetings in her district, which she said sits "so close to the busiest airport in the world," and from conversations with local mayors and law enforcement. She said hotels in the area had in some instances been "turning a blind eye" to trafficking and that training and penalties were needed so "our children are safe and that our economy is safe." Bazemore said the training requirement in…