As we previously reported, a new law requiring annual human trafficking prevention training for commercial lodging industry employees takes effect on January 1, 2022.
The Texas hotel industry, in coordination with the major hotel brands and the American Hotel & Lodging Association, advocated for the passage of the Texas human trafficking prevention training legislation in a coordinated effort to enact such laws in states across the nation.
Since passage of HB 390, THLA has been working with the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in the implementation of the new law. We are currently working with the OAG on getting the existing training programs from ECPAT USA, Marriott, and BEST approved for use in Texas, with some additional modifications to those programs to comply with the Texas legislation.
Additionally, the OAG is working on its own commercial lodging establishment training program, and that training program is not yet available.
The OAG has not established a timeline for either approval of the existing training programs or its own training program. Hotels have until December 31, 2022 to train employees hired before 2022, but employees hired on or after January 1, 2022 will have to be trained within 90 days of hiring.
Again, we are working with the OAG on asking them to approve training programs as quickly as possible.
The signage required by the new law is available at this OAG website is ready now for download and posting in the back-of-house are of the hotel properties: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/human-trafficking-section/human-trafficking-training-and-signage/commercial-lodging-training-resources/signs. We suggest posting this signage on or before January 1st.
Note: If your hotel is located within the City of Houston, the City also requires posting the City’s signage. That signage is available here.
We will be in contact with THLA members and the hotel brand representatives when we have more definitive information from the OAG on approval of the training programs.
For now, we recommend the following:
- Continue your current human trafficking training program protocols. Be sure to document employees’ training that occurs on or after January 1, 2022.
- Download and print the 11×17 version of the OAG signs available via this link.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.