Division 7. Hotels and Rooming Houses

Any person who owns or operates a hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County shall maintain a permanent register. The register shall be inscribed in ink in legible writing and contain the name and resident address, including state, city or town and street number or rural mail delivery route number, of each guest who occupies or engages sleeping facilities within any such establishment, the number of the room or facility occupied by such guest and the date and time of registration and of checkout of each such guest.

No person shall occupy any room or facility until after the registration provided for in this Section.

Any owner, operator or employee, or person in control of any hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County shall be prohibited from renting rooms by less than a full one night's rate for the hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park. A "full one night's rate" means a rate for at least a twelve (12) hour term. This section only applies to sleeping rooms but not other rooms within a hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park.

Notwithstanding Section 5-168(c), there is an exemption for any owner, operator, employee, or person in control, of any hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County from the room rental limitation providing that the room is being rented to a person registering with or under a corporate or business account.

Notwithstanding Section 5-168(c), there is an exemption for any owner, operator, employee, or person in control, of any hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County from the room rental limitation within a quarter of a mile of a hospital so they can rent to patients accessing outpatient care, or the patient's family member, at that hospital or other medical facility. There is also an exemption for any owner, operator, employee, or person in control of any hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County from the room rental limitation for renting for special purposes, which shall include air or transit travel layovers, speaker ready rooms, public safety purposes, and nursing or pregnant mothers. The Executive Director of the Office of Human Rights may also grant additional exemptions in advance in writing for other special purposes that the Executive Director determines is consistent with the intent of this Act.

The permanent register may be either in a bound book with nondetachable pages or may be in the form of a loose leaf book or cards. If a loose leaf book or cards are used, they shall be numbered consecutively before use and all such numbered pages or cards shall be kept even though they are not used by reason of mistake in entering information or for any other reason.

The register provided for by this Division shall be kept for at least three (3) years. It shall be open to inspection upon the request of any official or employee of the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement or of any law enforcement officer of the County or the State.

Any person who owns or operates a hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County shall be required to provide training to employees on how to identify human sex trafficking and human labor trafficking activities and human sex trafficking and human labor trafficking victims.

An owner and operator of a hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County shall register with the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement. If an entity is owned by a corporation, the registered agent of the owner shall register with the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement.

Any change in ownership shall be updated with the Department of Permitting, Inspections, and Enforcement by the end of the 30th day after the effective date of new ownership. All registration shall be completed by August 1, 2015. As a condition of a use and occupancy permit or continuation of a use and occupancy permit, registration for a hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel or tourist cabin park within the County is required.

Beginning on August 1, 2015, each new employee of a hotel, rooming house, tourist home, motel, or tourist cabin park within the County shall complete a human trafficking training program consisting of viewing a training video provided by the Office of Human Rights in collaboration with the Prince George's County Police Department. Employees hired prior to August 1, 2015 shall complete the human trafficking training in this subsection by October 1, 2015. The same training requirements apply for human labor trafficking except for the above-referenced dates in this subsection.

Beginning in calendar year 2016, lodging establishments identified in Sec. 5-171.01(a), shall be required to annually certify to the Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement that all of their employees have completed the required training. The Department of Permitting, Inspection and Enforcement shall issue regulations prescribing the process for annual certification within sixty (60) days after the effective date of this Act.

Any act that is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense pursuant to Subtitle 5, Division 7 of the County Code, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding Five Hundred Dollars ($500) for the first offense and One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) for subsequent offenses.