[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of East Hempfield 4-6-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-06. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to secure the safety of persons
and property in the Township by requiring operators of hotels to obtain
and keep identifying information about hotel guests to deter criminal
conduct by guests in hotel rooms and elsewhere in the Township and
to facilitate investigation and prosecution of crime by Township police.
As used herein, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated:
The Board of Supervisors of the Township of East Hempfield,
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
A building or group of buildings containing six or more individual
rooms as rental units for guests or transients for a limited period
of time. The building may include common hallways for all rooms on
the same floor, and provision may or may not be made for cooking in
any individual room or suite. "Hotel" does not include institutional
or educational uses, buildings where human beings are housed under
legal constraint, bed and breakfasts or campgrounds. The term "hotel"
shall be synonymous with "motel."
The individual or entity which is responsible for the management
of a hotel as defined herein, or the person who appears to the general
public to have supervisory responsibility for the management of such
a hotel.
The East Hempfield Township Police Department.
The Township of East Hempfield, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
A.
Every owner and/or operator of a hotel in the Township shall maintain
a register of all persons provided with accommodations at the hotel.
B.
On arrival of a guest, the hotel owner and/or operator or his or
her agent shall require the guest to enter into the register, or shall
enter for the guest, the following:
(1)
The name and address of the guest;
(2)
The make, model, and color of any guest's vehicle parked on
hotel property;
(3)
The guest's date and time of arrival and scheduled departure
date;
(4)
The room number assigned to the guest;
(5)
The number of persons in the guest's room;
(6)
The rate charged and amount collected for the room; and
(7)
The method of payment.
C.
In addition to the requirements of Subsection B above, the hotel owner and/or operator or his or her agent shall view photo identification of a guest and record the number and date of such identification in the following circumstances:
D.
The guest register may be maintained in either electronic or paper
form.
E.
The guest register shall be kept for a period of 90 days either on
the hotel premises, in the guest reception or guest check-in area
or in an office adjacent thereto, or, if not on the premises, in a
location where it can be obtained within two hours of any request
therefore.
F.
The hotel owner and/or operator or his or her agent shall not provide
accommodations to any person who fails to provide the information
required by this subsection. However, this subsection shall be read
consistently with Pennsylvania law, including the Pennsylvania Human
Relations Act, 43 P.S. § 951, et seq. (the "Act"), and any
similar law, and accommodations shall not be refused or denied based
upon the factors set forth in Section 3 of the Act.
Any person who violates or fails to comply with the provisions
of this chapter is guilty of a summary offense and upon conviction
thereof before a Magisterial District Judge shall be sentenced to
pay a fine of up to $1,000, together with costs of prosecution and
in default of payment thereof shall be imprisoned for not more than
90 days.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent or in conflict
with this chapter are hereby repealed as to said inconsistencies and
conflict.
If any section, part of any section, or clause or phrase of
this chapter is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional,
such decision shall not affect the remaining provisions of this chapter.
The Board declares that it would have passed the chapter and each
section and subsection thereof, irrespective of the fact that any
one or more of the subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases may
be declared unconstitutional or invalid.
This chapter shall take effect on April 12, 2022.
