TITLE
Recommendation to direct City Attorney to amend LBMC Chapters 5.53 and 5.55 to remove their sunset clauses thereby making Chapters 5.53 and 5.55 permanent; and
Direct City Attorney to rewrite LBMC sections 5.53.010 and 5.55.010 to reflect that the purpose of the City’s recall and retention ordinances (LBMC 5.53 and 5.55) is to ensure an equitable recovery from COVID-19 for Long Beach hotel and janitorial workers and to protect workers against the dangers posed by future pandemics, including future COVID-19 variants and surges, and to return with the amended ordinance within 7 days.
DISCUSSION
On May 12, 2020, the City Council adopted two Ordinances: the COVID-19 Citywide Worker Retention Ordinance (LBMC, Chapter 5.53) and the COVID-19 Citywide Worker Recall Ordinance (Long Beach Municipal Code (LBMC), Chapter 5.55) to provide protections to workers in high-contact, high-risk industries during the COVID-19 emergency. Both Ordinances became effective on June 22, 2020.
In a November 1 memo to the City Manager, Economic Development Director John Keisler recommended a sunset date of December 31, 2021, for both ordinances. The memo cited “that both State and local health orders related to COVID-19 have been lifted or relaxed, that state and federal COVID-19 sick leave laws have expired, that many high- contact industries including hospitality, hotels, janitorial, and food services have been allowed to resume operation, and that large local event venues such as the Convention Center and the Grand Prix have been allowed to resume activities,” as the reasons for recommending the sunset.
On December 7th, due to a projected surge in COVID-19 cases coinciding with the arrival of the Omicron variant, the City Council directed the City Manager to push the recommended December 31st sunset date out to February 28th. Since then, Long Beach has suffered record-high case counts, and with cases still above last winter’s previous high, it has become clear that the approach...
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