Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

S-4420.1
                           SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6056
     State of Washington         68th Legislature        2024 Regular Session
     By Senate Labor & Commerce (originally sponsored by Senators Torres,
     C. Wilson, and L. Wilson)
     READ FIRST TIME 01/30/24.
     AN   ACT  Relating   to  human   trafficking  awareness  training
 requirements; amending RCW 70.62.260; adding a new section to chapter
 70.62 RCW; and creating a new section.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     NEW SECTION.    Sec. 1.    (1) The legislature finds that human
 trafficking is a serious problem in the United States and in the
 state of Washington. Polaris project, the largest anti-human
 trafficking organization in the United States, hosts the national
 human trafficking hotline. Since the hotline's inception in 2007,
 over fifty thousand human trafficking cases have been discovered. In
 2018, the hotline identified over 23,000 survivors of human
 trafficking nationally. Human trafficking is an international problem
 that will continue to exploit the most vulnerable individuals in a
 community if proper training and identification support is not
 provided to the community at large.
     (2) The legislature also recognizes that human trafficking is
 prevalent within hotels and motels across the country and in
 Washington. In 2018, 81 percent of the active sex trafficking cases
 in the United States involved a victim who was compelled to provide a
 commercial sexual act at a hotel. In 2017, 45 percent of youth
 victims surveyed reported having been exploited in hotels. There is
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  evidence to suggest that training can be an effective way of raising
  awareness about human trafficking. According to the Washington-based
  anti-trafficking group businesses ending slavery and trafficking,
  hoteliers who received human trafficking awareness training reported
  a significant increase in the likelihood that they would call law
  enforcement if they suspected trafficking.
      (3) It is the intent of the legislature to work toward the goal
  of ridding hotels and other places of accommodation in Washington of
  human trafficking.
     NEW SECTION.   Sec. 2.   A new section is added to chapter 70.62
 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A transient accommodation shall provide annual training
 regarding human trafficking to each of its employees.
     (2) Training must be provided to all employees no later than
 February 1, 2025, and to new employees no later than 90 days after
 they begin their employment.
     (3) The training required under this section must include, at a
 minimum, the following:
     (a)   The   definition   of  human   trafficking   and   commercial
 exploitation of children, and the difference between sex trafficking
 and labor trafficking;
     (b) Guidance specific to the public lodging sector concerning how
 to identify individuals who may be victims of human trafficking based
 on behaviors and traits of trafficking regardless of race, creed,
 color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or class;
     (c)   Guidance   concerning  the   role   of   the   employees   in
 appropriately responding to suspected human trafficking; and
     (d) The contact information of appropriate agencies, which must
 include at least one national human trafficking hotline telephone
 number and one telephone number of an appropriate local law
 enforcement agency with jurisdiction over human trafficking.
     (4) By January 1, 2025, every operator of a transient
 accommodation shall post in a location conspicuous to employees
 signage regarding human trafficking awareness, printed in an easily
 legible font in English and any other primary language spoken by at
 least 10 percent of the employees.
     (5) By January 1, 2025, every operator of a transient
 accommodation shall implement procedures for the voluntary reporting
 of suspected human trafficking to the national human trafficking
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  hotline or to a local law enforcement agency, and a policy to act as
  a guide for all employees on human trafficking prevention.
      (6) Contents of the training and copies of the signage must be
  made available for inspection, upon request by the department.
     Sec. 3.   RCW 70.62.260 and 2004 c 162 s 1 are each amended to
 read as follows:
     (1)(a) No person shall operate a transient accommodation as
 defined in this chapter without having a valid license issued by the
 department. Applications for a transient accommodation license shall
 be filed with the department ((sixty)) 60 days or more before
 initiating business as a transient accommodation. All licenses issued
 under the provisions of this chapter shall expire one year from the
 effective date.
     (b) The department may not renew or issue a license to an
 applicant without first receiving written certification from the
 applicant that the human trafficking training requirements under
 section 2 of this act regarding training, signage, and procedures for
 reporting have been met.
     (2) All applications for renewal of licenses shall be either: (a)
 Postmarked no later than midnight on the date the license expires; or
 (b) if personally presented to the department or sent by electronic
 means, received by the department by 5:00 p.m. on the date the
 license expires.
     (3) A licensee that submits a license renewal application in
 accordance with this section and the rules and fee schedule adopted
 under this chapter shall be deemed to possess a valid license for the
 year following the expiration date of the expiring license, or until
 the department suspends or revokes the license pursuant to RCW
 70.62.270.
     (4) The license of a licensee that fails to submit a license
 renewal application in accordance with this section, and the rules
 and fee schedule adopted under this chapter, shall become invalid on
 the ((thirty-fifth)) 35th day after the expiration date, unless the
 licensee shall have corrected any and all deficiencies in the renewal
 application and paid a penalty fee as established by rule by the
 department before the ((thirty-fifth)) 35th day following the
 expiration date. An invalid license may be reinstated upon
 reapplication as an applicant for a new license under subsection (1)
 of this section.
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     (5) Each license shall be issued    only   for   the   premises   and
 persons named in the application.
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Statutes affected: 
Original Bill: 70.62.260
Substitute Bill: 70.62.260