DeSantis signs legislation prohibiting local workplace heat protections
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Thursday that prohibits municipalities from requiring employers to institute local workplace heat protections.
The measure, House Bill 433, prevents local governments from establishing, or requiring employers to establish, heat exposure requirements that are not otherwise required under state or federal law.
The bill says the prohibition would not apply “if it is determined that compliance … will prevent the distribution of federal funds to a political subdivision or would otherwise be inconsistent with federal requirements pertaining to receiving federal funds.”
Proposed worker heat protections affected under the ban are employee monitoring, water consumption, cooling measures, acclimation and recovery periods or practices, informational notice postings, heat exposure programs or training, first-aid measures and emergency response protocols, and reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
The bill was approved by a 74-36 House vote and a 24-15 Senate vote, according to legislative records.
The law says that it doesn’t limit the authority of political subdivisions to create heat exposure requirements for “direct employees” of the political subdivision.
The law is scheduled to take effect on July 1.
