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Each September, MLA attends AHLA and AAHOA's Legislative Action Summit (LAS) in Washington, D.C. At this event, hundreds of hoteliers from across the country unite to network and meet face-to-face with Members of Congress. This year, LAS will take place on September 10th and 11th. We will be heading to Capitol Hill to advocate and lobby for important issues both federally and in the state of Massachusetts such as online booking scams, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Jolt Act HR 6681, and more. In conjunction with MLA's attendance to LAS, the following letter was sent from MLA to House leaders on this agenda item and will be discussed during our visitation. The Massachusetts Lodging Association along with other local neighborhood organizations, has have been at the forefront of fighting the broad campaign against illegal hotel operators enabled by Short Term Rental (STR) platforms. I wanted to share with you some positive developments in this space at the federal level. Congressman Ed Case (D-HI-1) is calling for increased accountability for STR platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway. The Congressman shares many of our coalitions concerns about these platforms profiting from the illegal activity conducted on their sites and is introducing federal legislation titled: the Protecting Local Authority and Neighborhoods (PLAN) Act. This bill would end abusive litigation by STR platforms attempting to avoid accountability for profiting from illegal rentals and strike down local regulations aimed at curbing this illegal activity and its widespread negative impacts. You can read the full legislative text of the bill here and the letter from Congressman Ed Case here. If you have any questions, please contact Paul Sacco
The Massachusetts Lodging Association along with other local neighborhood organizations, has have been at the forefront of fighting the broad campaign against illegal hotel operators enabled by Short Term Rental (STR) platforms. I wanted to share with you some positive developments in this space at the federal level. Congressman Ed Case (D-HI-1) is calling for increased accountability for STR platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway. The Congressman shares many of our coalitions concerns about these platforms profiting from the illegal activity conducted on their sites and is introducing federal legislation titled: the Protecting Local Authority and Neighborhoods (PLAN) Act. This bill would end abusive litigation by STR platforms attempting to avoid accountability for profiting from illegal rentals and strike down local regulations aimed at curbing this illegal activity and its widespread negative impacts.