Committee adopts amendments and continues public-health emergency leave initiative to Feb. 14

SAN FRANCISCO — The Rules Committee on Monday adopted a package of sponsor amendments to a voter initiative that would create a public-health emergency leave benefit and continued the item for further consideration.

Supervisor Mar, the chief sponsor, said the ordinance would restore and extend the city’s pandemic-era public-health emergency leave as an initiative ordinance because the city’s paid sick leave was adopted by voters in 2006 and cannot be amended by ordinance. Mar said the measure covers city employees and private employees of firms with 100 or more employees and would automatically provide two additional weeks of leave during a declared local or statewide public-health emergency.

Sponsor amendments the committee adopted would (1) set an operative date of Oct. 1, 2022 to align with likely state supplemental leave expirations, (2) allow employers to count comparable state or federal supplemental leave hours as an offset if used for the same purposes and the same emergency, and (3) narrow air-quality emergency use to outdoor workers in vulnerable categories (seniors, pregnant people, or those with heart or lung conditions) and exempt employers with fewer than 100 employees and qualifying social-enterprise nonprofits.

Deputy City Attorney Anne Pearson confirmed the city attorney’s office advised the board that because the proposal overlaps with and expands the voter-approved paid-sick-leave ordinance, voter approval is required. After public comment from labor and employer groups, the committee voted to adopt the sponsor’s amendments and continue the item to the Feb. 14 Rules Committee meeting.