Let them drink sand
Florida’s Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would ban cities and counties from adopting requirements for mandatory water breaks and other workplace protections against extreme heat.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 28-11, along party lines, to pass Senate Bill 1492, which would prohibit local governments from determining workplace heat standards that go beyond those required by federal law. In effect, the bill would strip cities and counties of the ability to require water breaks for workers and time to rest in the shade throughout the day.
That’s evil. Genuinely, literally evil. Heat kills. Humans are not built to tolerate extreme heat, and they die when they get too hot. They don’t “get used to it” or “adapt” or anything like that, any more than people get used to having their heads cut off. There’s a hard limit on how much heat we can survive, and legislators don’t have the power to change that.
The state legislation comes after the planet notched its hottest year in recorded history in 2023. Nearly the entire southern part of the U.S. last summer suffered weeks on end of oppressive humidity and triple-digit temperatures in a series of long-lasting heat waves that climate scientists said were intensified by global warming.
No doubt that’s part of the motivation of the murderous senators, along with wanting to stick it to people who failed to lie and exploit and cheat their way to vast wealth. Must block all safety laws related to heat because must pretend planet is not cooking.
labor organizations have said workplace heat standards are necessary to keep people safe, particularly for individuals who work in construction, agriculture and other industries that require them to be outside.
Similar legislation was passed last year in Texas, as part of a state law that limited local governments from, among other things, establishing ordinances for mandatory water breaks and time in the shade for outdoor workers.
Heat causes more deaths in the U.S. each year than any other weather event, according to the National Weather Service, and outdoor workers are among those most vulnerable to heat-related illness and death when temperatures spike.
Yeah no shit, because they’re stuck outside in it, working.
An important aspect of this kind of bill, which is common in Alabama as well, is the whole “ban cities and counties from…” feature. The state legislature stands above all. They can flout the federal government, strip power from the governor, and prevent local governments from doing anything the legislature doesn’t like. It greatly simplifies lobbying efforts, which can focus on a small number of people located in the state capital. It’s an unabashedly corrupt system.
I have some sympathy for the need for statewide consistency rather than a confusing patchwork of local regulations, but only if the state is adopting a set of reasonable regulations. When a state just abdicates its duty here and then objects to localities filling in the gap, that’s pretty lousy.