SF committee backs 'Healthy Buildings' cleaning rules and forwards ordinance to full Board

San Francisco's Land Use and Transportation Committee on Monday voted to send an amended emergency "Healthy Buildings" ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation, after a long public-comment period that sharply divided labor and hotel-industry witnesses.

The ordinance, carried by Committee Chair Supervisor Erin Peskin, would require tourist hotels and large commercial office buildings to establish, implement and maintain written cleaning, disinfecting and disease-prevention standards consistent with guidance from the California Department of Public Health and the state Department of Industrial Relations. Peskin said the measure is intended to protect low-wage and frontline workers and to restore traveler confidence as the city reopens. "This is all about, money," Peskin said in reference to industry opposition, arguing the measure puts "public health and visitor and worker safety first."

Why it matters: Supporters said enforceable cleaning standards are necessary to protect workers who are disproportionately low-wage and people of color and to…