Legislation in Florida would ban local workplace heat protections; Arizona just approved measures

Dangerous heat levels are becoming routine in Florida as state leaders look the other way and do little to combat global warming. (Getty Images)

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From the east to the west, two states in the U.S. — Florida and Arizona — have something in common: Extreme heat.

But those states could play out in different ways when it comes to workforce heat protections, particularly as temperatures are rising.

Soon, Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to approve or veto a bill that would ban local governments in Florida from requiring businesses to provide heat protections to workers who toil in the state’s most dangerous heat. That bill was approved by the Legislature on March 8, the last day of the session.

If DeSantis signs the bill, it will be in stark contrast to what happened in March in Phoenix, Arizona.

That’s where their city council voted unanimously on March 26 to approve an ordinance that will require city contractors and their subcontractors to provide access to rest, shade, water and air conditioning for all of their employees who work outdoors. The vote was 7-0.

Councilwoman Betty Guardado. Credit: City of Phoenix website.

“Our expectations for contractors and supervisors operating within city facilities must far exceed these basic requirements,” said Phoenix City Council member Betty Guardado, speaking shortly before she voted to approve the ordinance. “Let us view the policies outlined here as the starting point rather than the ultimate standard. We must strive for excellence in safeguarding our workers from extreme heat conditions. Let’s make this a top priority. It is time for us to raise the bar and ensure that every worker in Phoenix is provided with the highest level of protection and support.”

Katelyn Parady is a member of National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH). She lives in Phoenix and was a leading advocate in getting the city council to pass their heat protection ordinance last month.

“I have to say that the advocacy in Phoenix (Arizona) was energized and absolutely inspired by those workers who were working so fiercely for water, shade and rest there in Miami-Dade.” That’s a reference to Miami-Dade’s Board of County Commissioners, who attempted last fall to create a local ordinance for heat protections. But that didn’t happen.

As to Florida’s legislation this session, Parady told the Florida Phoenix: “It’s hard to overstate how appalling what we saw last month with HB 433. I mean, what we’re seeing in Florida…is just a really appalling indifference to both human suffering and human rights and we know that it’s really driven by corporate lobbyists.”

Unlike the city of Phoenix (Arizona) ordinance, the Florida measure (HB 433) is broad in nature, covering all parts of the state. It was approved in the 2024 legislative session despite the fact that only one county — Miami-Dade — was contemplating such an ordinance requiring businesses in the construction and agriculture industries to provide heat protections for outdoor workers.

South Florida activists say that they have been closely watching what just happened in both Arizona and Florida, which have capital cities of Tallahassee and Phoenix.

“Our reaction is that it’s exciting to see workers in Phoenix also organize on this issue and to see a city council have the courage to stand up to industry associations like AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) and do what’s right for up to 10,000 workers in the city of Phoenix,” says Oscar Londoño, the co-executive director for WeCount! an advocacy group for immigrant workers and families in South Florida.

“Hopefully this isn’t just an end in Phoenix and [similar ordinances] spread across the country. It’s going to get hotter and hotter every single year, and we’re hopeful that cities and counties across the country will take action to protect the lives of our workforce,” said Londoño.

The Florida legislation, if signed into law and beginning July 1, would allow private companies to avoid any mandate to provide basic protections like shade, accessible water and breaks from the scorching heat and humidity.

A farmworker in Immokalee harvests tomatoes. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

But there are agricultural companies in Florida providing those protections. The Fair Food Program is a landmark agreement between farmworkers, farmers and retail food companies originally created in 2011 that was expanded in 2021 to include enforceable heat safety standards “in about 90% of the Florida tomato farms,” according to Ty Joplin with the Fair Food Program. “In Florida alone, we protect thousands upon thousands of farmworkers,” he said.

“Agriculture workers are 20 times more likely to die from heat related illness, or injury and then workers in other occupations and if we cannot do something in the face of that to protect the people who harvest the food we eat, I think that is a very sad day,” says Laura Safer Espinoza, who directs the Fair Food Standards Council, which monitors and enforces agreements between agricultural workers, growers and corporate buyers of produce in Florida and eight other states around the country.

Safer Espinoza, a retired New York State Supreme Court Justice, says that the arguments made by industry officials regarding heat protections are similar to previous complaints when regulations have been imposed on them.

“Did business in this country come to an end when the minimum wage was passed?” she said while talking with the Florida Phoenix last week. “Did business come to an end when the 40-hour week was passed? Did OSHA bring an end to business? At each turn that there’s been regulation throughout history, the opposing argument has been that it would end business as we know it and create massive unemployment. Has that been the case? It has not.”

Other groups opposed to the Florida legislation aren’t giving up just yet. Dozens of organizations sent two separate letters recently calling on DeSantis to veto the legislation.

“Preempting local governments’ ability to protect workers from climate-caused extreme heat is inhumane and will have enormous negative economic impacts when lost productivity is taken into account,” reads a letter sent on March 29 to the governor.

The activists who worked to try to get heat protections for workers in Miami-Dade County say that despite the state legislation, they’re not going to stop their efforts.

Says Londoño: “Our position is that extreme heat is not going away, and neither are we.”

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