From today’s NPR News:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a law that prevents cities or counties from creating protections for workers who labor in the state’s often extreme and dangerous heat.
Two million people in Florida, from construction to agriculture, work outside in often humid, blazing heat.
For years, many of them have asked for rules to protect them from heat: paid rest breaks, water, and access to shade when temperatures soar. After years of negotiations, such rules were on the agenda in Miami-Dade County, home to an estimated 300,000 outdoor workers.
But the new law, signed Thursday evening, blocks such protections from being implemented in cities and counties across the state.
Miami-Dade pulled its local heat protection rule from consideration after the statewide bill passed the legislature in March.
“It’s outrageous that the state legislature will override the elected officials of Miami Dade or other counties that really recognize the importance of protecting that community of workers,” says David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University and a former administrator at the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).
The loss of the local rule was a major blow to Miami-Dade activists and workers who had hoped the county heat protection rules would be in place before summer.
Read the complete story here.