REMARKS
Council Member Julie Menin discusses the Safe Hotels Act
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3 min
Council Member Julie Menin explains proposed introduction 991-C, known as the Safe Hotels Act, which aims to license hotels in New York City. She outlines the need for regulation in the hotel industry, the key provisions of the bill, and the widespread support it has received.
- The bill requires hotels to maintain cleanliness, equip employees with panic buttons, and provide human trafficking recognition training.
- It prohibits subcontracting in hotels to ensure accountability for what occurs on hotel premises.
- The legislation has received support from various organizations, including the Hotel Trades Council, the Hotel Association of New York, and labor unions.
Julie Menin
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Good morning, and welcome to today's consumer and work Protection Committee vote on proposed intro 991 c in relation to licensing hotels.
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I'm Council member Julie Bannon, Chair of the Committee.
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And first of all, I want to recognize my colleagues who are here, Council member Osea, Council member Breo, Council member Krishnan Council member Brewer, majority leader, Farius.
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So I am absolutely thrilled that today New York City is going to be joining other cities across the countries such as Chicago and Denver and Boston Washington DC, Las Vegas to just name a few in licensing hotels.
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Licensing is a critical tool that the Department of Consumer And Worker Protection uses to regulate over 45,000 businesses in our city.
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Such as pedicabs, tour guides, sightseeing buses, and car dealerships in over 40 different industries.
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While the hotel industry is such an important economic driver and the majority of hotels are great places to stay, there is absolutely need for regulation within this industry.
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As mentioned by the New York Times, oversight over the hotel industry has essentially been Lazy Fair.
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Hotels that host criminals can be difficult to shut down And we frankly saw this firsthand in cue gardens and queens with the notorious umbrella hotel, which ended up being the 1st murder in the year 2021, and we saw that the city really struggled to shut that bad actor down.
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No longer will that occur when there is licensing of hotels.
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The Safe Hotels Act will ensure protections for communities, as well as for guests and for workers.
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The bill specifically requires hotels to maintain cleanliness of every guest room equip core employees with panic buttons, and provide human trafficking, recognition training.
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The safe hotels act prohibits subcontracting in hotels, which will ensure that the hotel is held accountable for what occurs on hotel premises rather than shifting responsibility for day to day operations to third parties.
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This will result in safer experiences for guests and workers and improve quality of service for guests and tourists who visit our great city.
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With this bill, we are finally going to address some myriad quality of life issues that result from bad actor hotels.
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Hotel related complaints to DCWP have doubled in the last 4 years.
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In addition, there have been over 14,000 criminal complaints to the NYPD originating from hotels and motels over the last 5 years alone.
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In addition, there have been 39 murders at hotels.
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My bill is very clear on the newsstandards going forward for hotels, and that is why HTC, the hotel Association of New York, the New York Labor Council, 32b JDC 37, Nizna, the PBA and the 5 district attorneys and the New York attorney general have all supported this bill.
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In addition to 40 of my colleagues, we have a bipartisan super majority of support on this bill.
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I first of all, I wanna thank HTC for their incredible leadership in support of this bill.
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I wanna thank the numerous hotel owners, operators, stakeholders, Hanuk, and others who've given us valuable feedback to craft this bill.
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And I wanna thank numerous people on the counsel side who have helped to draft and update this bill, including Jeff Baker, Rachel Cabrera, Sarah Swain, Natalie Meltser, Jeremy John, and, of course, the leadership of our speaker in support of this bill.
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And from my team, Jonathan Schott, Brandon, Jordan, and Mercedes Anderson.
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I now turn it over to Clark for the roll call.
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Thank you.
