Exactly a week after lobbyists succeeded in derailing Miami-Dade County’s landmark heat safety legislation, a lawmaker filed a bill in Tallahassee to block similar efforts in the future.
And not just in Miami-Dade. The latest in a string of pre-emption edicts from the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature would block any city or county from setting standards to protect workers from the increasing risks of extreme heat.
With Florida’s legislative session firmly over the halfway mark, efforts to block heat protections are moving forward in Tallahassee. And another measure, with watered down standards to simply encourage employees to protect workers from the heat with no penalties if they don’t, appears dead in the water for the seventh year running.
Last year, after the hottest summer in Florida’s history, advocates pushed Miami-Dade to pass protections for outdoor workers, including mandatory shaded water breaks on hot days. After pushback from politically powerful industries, including construction and agriculture, the proposed policy was watered down and delayed.