The New Jersey State AFL-CIO thanks and commends Gov. Phil Murphy for signing into law the bill that requires hotel sanitization standards (A-4131/S-2479), sponsored by Assemblyman Robert J. Karabinchak, D-18th District, Assemblywoman Angela V. McKnight, D-31st District, and Assembly Deputy Speaker Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-37th District, and by State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney, D-3rd District.
The New Jersey State AFL-CIO, in partnership with the Hotel Trades Council, worked to get passage of this pro-labor law, which provides protection, tools and training for our union brothers and sisters on the front lines of fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Hotel cleanliness also benefits the hospitality industry as it starts to reopen after the state shutdown. That means a return to work for our union members who were hit hard by the economic crisis.
Under this law, the state Department of Health will mandate that all hotels supply their employees with the certified cleaning materials and instruction on how to properly sanitize guest rooms and public spaces daily or more often, to rid those areas of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The law also requires hotels to provide guests with an adequate supply of sanitized linens, and to have at least one employee on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to answer any questions guests may have about health or safety.
The Senate passed this bill, 26-13, and the Assembly passed it, 51-26-3, largely along party lines, on May 14.