CHLA Lodging News May/June 2020

CENSUS WORKERS AT HOTELS It is a federal law that U.S. census workers be provided access to hotel guests. The United States 2020 Census includes people who live or stay in nontraditional living situations, one of which is a hotel or lodging property. As a result, Census Bureau interviewers are contacting hotel and lodging properties, to attempt to count people who are staying at hotels for extended periods of time. A hotel that receives a request for legitimate Census-related access to the property and the ability to contact occupants should comply with the request. As always, be sure to make copies of whatever documents you receive from the Census workers and ask them for identification. Several decades ago, the U.S. Congress enacted a law that deals specifically with the right of Census workers to enter hotels and gather information related to conducting the Census. Specifically, this law states the following: ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OFFICE, THIS PROCESS WILL INVOLVE A SINGLE PHONE CALL AND PERHAPS AN ON-PROPERTY VISIT. 1. Phone Call: Following the caller identifying themselves as a Census worker, only one question will be asked: "Are there any people who live or stay at this property on an extended basis, such as a weekly basis or a monthly basis?" If the answer is no, then that location’s file is completed. 2. Property Visit: If the answer is "yes" then an appointment will be set up to visit that property. At that point, there are two ways to handle the visit: a) The property can give the Census Field Supervisors specific room numbers where an attempt will be made to include the guest(s) in the Census. b) If the property does not want Census Field Supervisors going to the specific rooms, the hotel guest registry can be referenced to provide information for the people who are living on property for an extended period of time to the Census Field Supervisors. CHLA + CABBI Members: Questions or concerns? Jim Abrams – Member Legal Advisor [email protected] www.calodging.com This is an information service of CHLA. It does not purport to serve as legal or other professional advice, and the counsel of competent professionals should always be sought. REFERENCES The Census Field Supervisors will only ask for Name, Address, Sex, Date of Birth and Race. CENSUS WORKERS DO NOT ASK FOR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS OR ANY OTHER PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE IDENTIFICATION. For reference , the 2020 Census Compliance Letter is here. If any property has any further questions, they can reach out directly to the US Census office at 442-287-5481. Please ask for either Jim Hertzog or Sherri Massoudi, who are both Office Operations Supervisors for Field Operations. Emails are: [email protected] [email protected] Please note: The City of Los Angeles v. Patel that provides hotel and lodging properties to a right of privacy of their own records (including records that have guest-related information) doesn’t apply for U.S. Census workers. The Census workers won’t request identifiable information, nor are Census workers regarded in any way as law enforcement personnel. Whoever, being the owner, proprietor, manager, superintendent, or agent of any hotel, apartment house, boarding or lodging house, tenement, or other building, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary or by any other officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof, acting under the instructions of the Secretary, to furnish the names of the occupants of such premises, or to give free ingress thereto and egress therefrom to any duly accredited representative of such Department or bureau or agency thereof, so as to permit the collection of statistics with respect to any census … shall be fined not more than $500. Title 13, USC, Section 223 CENSUS WORKERS AT HOTELS Allowing Access March 2020