January 8, 2015

Dear AH&LA Member,
 

Congratulations are in order to all of you!
 

Earlier today, the hotel industry secured two major legislative victories during the first week of the 114 Congress! These victories would not have been achieved without your support and advocacy efforts.
 

First, the Senate passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), by an overwhelming vote of 93-4. This vote, on the heels of the House passage yesterday by a vote of 416-5 means that this critical legislation heads to the President's desk for his signature.  
 

Reauthorization of this program has long been one of AH&LA's top priorities, and it required patience and persistence to achieve success. Back in July, the Senate passed a bipartisan version of this bill by an overwhelming vote of 93-4, and in December, the House passed its own version of the bill.  Unfortunately, the 113th Congress adjourned without reaching an agreement on a final bill, which allowed the program to expire.
 

After a tense couple of months that had our members calling and emailing lawmakers, Congress today finally agreed to reauthorize the program. There was much deliberation and consternation, but ultimately a bipartisan compromise was reached to extend this crtical program which expired on December 31, 2014.
 

Additionally, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 30, the "Save American Workers Act of 2015," by a vote of 252-172, which will restore the traditional definition of full-time employment under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) back to the 40-hours per week, which the American workforce has lived by for decades. 
 

“Changing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) definition of a full-time employee back to the traditional 40 hours is a crucial adjustment needed to ensure the law is made more workable for hoteliers – many of whom are small businesses – and more importantly their hard-working employees,” said AH&LA president and CEO Katherine Lugar.  “The healthcare law’s existing – and arbitrary – 30-hour definition severely restricts the scheduling flexibility so valuable to our industry’s workforce.  In many instances, these employees may end up taking a second job in order to make up the income shortfall caused by fewer working hours.” 

These are enormous wins for our industry, and we thank all of you again for your advocacy efforts. Through countless meetings, letters and calls to Senators and Members of Congress, your voice was heard.

This is a great start to the New Year!

Thank you!