Fresh off of trying to replace education with child labor, Florida Republicans have another bright idea that’s sure to improve conditions for workers in the Sunshine State. They’re out to ensure that workers don’t have any right to protection when toiling outdoors in the heat.
A bill is advancing through the Florida Senate that would prohibit local officials from passing regulations that would provide heat protection for outdoor workers. Authored by state Sen. Jay Trumbull, SB 1492 has already passed in the state House and cleared the first hurdles in the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee.
Right now, there aren’t any such local ordinances. That Florida legislators are moving to outlaw something that doesn’t exist might seem odd, even for Florida. But last fall, Miami-Dade County considered passing such regulations. So state Republicans are working to beat them to the punch and prevent worker protections statewide—before they ever exist.
As the Florida Phoenix reported in November, Miami-Dade County could have been the first local government in the nation to pass regulations protecting outdoor workers from extreme heat. The ordinance first proposed last summer would have required that construction and agriculture workers have access to water and 10-minute breaks in the shade every two hours on days when the heat index exceeds 90 degrees. It would have also required employers to provide training on dealing with signs of heat-induced illness and calling for help in the case of an emergency.
That proposal was watered down after input from “industry groups.” The final version upped the temperature to 95 degrees. That may seem like a small difference, but as the Phoenix notes, “... over the past fifty years, Miami has had an average of just 4.1 days per year with a high temperature of 95 degrees. That’s compared to an average of 163 days per year when the heat index hits 90 degrees Fahrenheit, according to University of Miami climate researcher Brian McNoldy.”
But even after being stretched to the point where it would only require companies to provide workers with 10-minute shade breaks on the four hottest days of the year, the legislation failed to pass. As The Washington Post reported at the time, “No states in the South, where workplace heat deaths are most common, have created their own heat safety rules.”
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration provides voluntary heat safety rules, but doesn’t enforce them. Three states—California, Washington, and Oregon—have rules of their own. No other state or local government has passed rules to protect workers from extreme heat, even though heat waves have been increasing in both intensity and duration.
Legislation was being considered in Miami-Dade County because record heat in Florida resulted in the deaths of at least two farm workers in 2023. It was voted down by the Board of County Commissioners after industry lobbyists warned that the bill would be “creating a new government agency” (which it didn’t) and imposing “duplicative regulations” (even though no current regulations exist).
The proposed bill preventing local governments from passing regulations to protect workers from extreme heat is just one of several ways the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature has been stripping local power. WLRN Public Radio in South Florida calls it the “systemic draining of local control” and warns that it’s about both politics and money.
The state legislature has passed laws to overturn local ordinances designed to address the climate crisis, overturned efforts to boost clean energy, and created a bill that allows businesses to sue if any local government passes regulations that have “adverse impacts on their companies,” even if that ordinance has overwhelming local support.
Why are Republicans so set on passing sweeping laws at the state level rather than letting local governments do what they have always done? In a word: lobbyists.
Lobbyists find it much more convenient to deal with legislators at the state level rather than work with county or local officials. Thanks to the wide variety of preemption laws passed by Florida Republicans, lobbyists can hunker down in Tallahassee and not have to worry about sitting in boring meetings around the state. In return, Florida legislators get all the perks (read: donations) of being on a short leash for those lobbyists. In the case of this bill, that includes lobbyists for Associated Industries of Florida and Duke Energy. Presumably, Duke is worried it might have to allow its line workers to get out of the sun and rest for a few minutes while dealing with high-voltage lines.
So, there is no legislation to help protect workers from the heat in South Florida—and if Florida Republicans get their bill passed, there never will be.
Because 10 minutes in the shade every two hours on the four hottest days of the year is just asking for too much. Heat-related deaths are only up 95%, and when this set of workers is dead, they can always be replaced by kids.
We're going deep inside last year's momentous progressive victory in the battle for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court on this week's episode of "The Downballot," where we're joined by Alejandro Verdin, who managed Judge Janet Protasiewicz's triumphant campaign. Verdin explains how he assembled a team that took the little-known Protasiewicz from third place in the polls to a runaway first-place finish in the primary and then on to a landslide win in the general election.
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