DeSantis signs bill banning local heat protections for workers

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed legislation barring local and municipal governments from requiring their own heat protections for workers.

The law, House Bill 433, blocks local governments from several activities, including setting a minimum wage higher than that of the state or federal governments. It also restricts local authorities from “[r]equiring an employer, including an employer contracting with the political subdivision, to meet or provide heat exposure requirements not otherwise required under state or federal law” or “[g]iving preference, or considering or seeking information, in a competitive solicitation to an employer based on the employer’s heat exposure requirements,” according to a summary released by the Legislature.

Proponents of the bill called it necessary for the Sunshine State’s economy. “Without continuity in business, businesses will not come to Florida. People will stop coming to Florida,” state Rep. Bob Rommel (R) said during floor debate on the bill.

An estimated 2 million Floridians work outdoors. The bill’s passage comes after the state’s most populous county, Miami-Dade, considered local heat protection rules that would have been among the most stringent in the country. That proposal would have required employers to provide shade, water and 10-minute breaks to workers every two hours on days over a certain heat threshold. However, county commissioners rejected the proposal in November over concerns it would hamstring businesses.

Numerous parts of Florida saw all-time heat records last year, the hottest ever recorded overall. Cities and regions that saw record highs last August included the Tampa and Fort Myers areas.

Environmental and labor groups blasted the passage of the bill. “Instead of addressing the skyrocketing insurance crisis or protecting our workforce, the Governor chose to abandon millions of hard-working Floridians and leave our state even more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change,” Sierra Club Florida Political Director Luigi Guadarrama said in a statement.

“HB433 is an extremist law by Florida’s Republican-led Legislature and industry lobbyists in agriculture and construction who care more about their profits than the lives of the workers who make these profits possible,” said Oscar Londoño, co-executive director of WeCount, a labor organization that advocates on behalf of outdoor workers. “Instead of offering real solutions for working families, HB433 will endanger the health and lives of thousands of outdoor workers in our state.”

Florida recorded 215 deaths directly caused by heat between 2010 and 2020, but experts have warned these numbers don’t tell the whole story, as they do not include existing conditions exacerbated by heat. Another confounding variable is the challenge of incorporating noncitizens, including immigrants lacking permanent legal status and guest workers, into the data.

While just five states — California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington — have state-level heat protections for workers, DeSantis’s signature makes Florida only the second, after Texas, to ban local protections.

— Updated at 3:12 p.m.