2017 Legislative Session: Hotel Administration Bills
April Update
Below is a summary of filled bills THLA is tracking that affect various aspects of general hotel operations.
ADA related bills
HB 468 by Longoria: Requires a minimum and maximum mattress heights in ADA-accessible hotel rooms.
HB 1463 by Smithee / SB 827 by Seliger: Allows a place of public accommodation to have a 150-day period to cure an alleged ADA violation before a state court lawsuit can proceed.
HB 2992 by Neave: Creates an offense when a person fits an animal with certain collars, vests, or other symbols to falsely represent an animal as a service animal.
HB 3229 by Phelan: Distinguishes between definitions of “assistance animal” and “service animal.”
Gender identity on bathroom signs
SB 1276 by Campbell: Requires all gender-neutral bathrooms to prominently display an icon, symbol, or other identifying device that designates the facility as gender-neutral.
Consumer transaction bills
HB 411 by Longoria: Requires that the merchant view a cardholder’s photo ID for all card-present credit and debit card purchases over $200. The merchant will be liable for any fraud if the merchant fails to verify ID.
HB 721 by Longoria: For merchants with more than 50 dress retail locations in the state, the merchant may not accept a credit or debit card to load funds onto a stored value card such as a gift card without obtaining photo identification.
HB 2333 by Elkins / SB 1409 by Menendez: Requires a business that experiences a security breach to its electronic recordkeeping system in which credit card information is compromised to report the breach to the Texas Attorney General within 24 hours of learning of the breach. If the business had failed to secure the computer system prior to the breach, the business must pay a penalty of $50 for each credit cards and debit card from which information was compromised.
HB 2839 by Longoria / SB 1381 by Hughes: Give merchants permissive authority to require photo IDs to be shown at the time a credit card is presented for payment. A merchant would be allowed to refuse any credit card not accompanied with photo identification.
Health club and hotel spa related bills
HB 340 by Goldman: Abolishes shampoo specialty certificates.
HB 2629 by Thompson: Requires any facility licensed with TDLR to display a sign in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese that includes a toll-free phone number of a nationally recognized hotline for victims of human trafficking. Such facilities include mostly nail, hair and beauty salons, but would likely capture large hotel properties that have TDLR-licensed cosmetologists employed in spa facilities.
Security Personnel
HB 2818 by Oliverson: Requires a security patrol vehicle to only be equipped with amber, green, or white lights.
Non-consensual vehicle towing from private parking lots
A number of bills this session deal with additional requirements placed on a landowner and/or a towing company for nonconsensual vehicle towing.
- HB 2426 by Neave: Adds further language requirements to “towing enforced” signs on private property.
- HB 2427 by Neave: Adds further language requirements to “towing enforced” signs on private property.
- HB 2508 by Kuempel: Overalls regulations related to non-consensual towing.
- HB 2733 by Lucio III: Further restricts non-consensual towing and booting of vehicles.
- HB 2976 by Frullo: Provides additional restrictions on non-consensual towing from multiunit apartment buildings.
- HB 3009 by Paddie: Removes the state law prohibition on a parking facility owner receiving an economic benefit from vehicles towed from the facility.
- HB 3306 by Kuempel / SB 1501 by Zaffirini: Allows for more local regulation of towing companies.