By Jorge Casuso

September 5, 2024 -- The City Council on Tuesday will beef up a 2019 law to help crack down on hotels allegedly overworking housekeepers and wrap up two proposed ordinances continued from previous meetings.

The continued items would outlaw sleeping in public with blankets and sleeping bags and prohibit City officials from accepting gifts from those who benefited from their actions.

The ordinance protecting hotel workers from excessive workloads comes after the City received "several complaints" regarding violations of the five-year-old ordinance, according to a report to the Council from the City Attorney's office.

The amended ordinance would "clarify" that under the 2019 ordinance hotel employers are "required to document the number of such rooms cleaned by each attendant each day and to maintain all original records used to document workload."

It also includes a provision "mandating compliance with City-authorized investigators, including access to records and permitting interviews with workers during normal business hours."

In addition, the amended ordinance would increase the maximum daily penalty for failure to maintain records -- from $1,000 per day to $3,000 per day.

Under the measure, the Los Angeles County Department of Business and Consumer Affairs (DCBA), which enforces the City's minimum wage law, will help enforce the hotel workload provision by issuing civil citations.

The 2019 ordinance establishes daily workload maximums of 4,000 square feet for hotels with less than 40 guest rooms and 3,500 square feet for hotels with more than 40 guest rooms.

It also requires a double overtime compensation rate for all hours worked in a workday when a housekeeper’s workload exceeds these maximums.

Proposed by Unite HERE Local 11, the 2019 measure dictates workloads normally negotiated by the union and exempts union hotels ("Santa Monica Council Unanimously Approves Groundbreaking Hotel Ordinance," August 28, 2019).

In an item continued from the August 27 meeting, the Council will take up an ordinance amending the City's anti-camping law to make it harder to sleep outdoors ("Council Could Make it Harder for Homeless to Sleep in Public Places," August 22, 2024).

The proposed change would remove an exemption allowing the use of sleeping bags, blankets, pillows and bedrolls in public spaces.

Santa Monica is one of a number State and local governments across the country taking up the issue after a June 28 U.S. Supreme Court ruling paved the way for municipalities to penalize the homeless for camping on public land.

In his report to the Council, City Attorney Doug Sloan warned that "even if sleeping on public property could be completely outlawed, it will not end."

The Council will also take up a proposed ordinance continued from the August 27 meeting that would prohibit any City official from accepting or soliciting gratuities "as a reward or token of appreciation for any official act performed by the public official."

Under the ordinance, violations could be prosecuted as a misdemeanor, or by an administrative fine of up to $500 per violation ("City Officials Could Face Fines for Accepting Gifts," August 21, 2024).

The proposed measure comes after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June "purports to allow city officials to accept gratuities" unless barred by local law, according to the report from staff.