Left out to dry: Bill to again allow local heat protection for workers poised to die unheard

One year after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to prohibit local governments from mandating basic heat protections for outdoor workers, a bill to counteract that law is on track to die without a hearing.

The GOP-controlled Legislature has ignored a pair of bills (SB 510, HB 35) that would have allowed cities and counties to require heat safety standards for private businesses, including that workers have access to cool, clean water and a 10-minute break for every two hours spent in the sun.

Extreme heat exposure kills more Americans annually than any other weather-related hazard. But Davie Democratic Rep. Mike Gottlieb, who filed HB 35 and earlier versions of it in years past, didn’t expect the measure to be heard this year.

“It was more of a messaging bill, something I felt the state needs to do to protect our workers. We have heat exposure illness issues every year, and our climate seems to be getting hotter and hotter, and it’s a vulnerable population that we need to protect,” he said.

“So, I wish it had gotten a hearing, but I wasn’t very optimistic when I filed it that I would get one.”

HB 35’s first stop would have been the House Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee. Cape Coral Republican Rep. Mike Giallombardo chairs the panel and controls which bills it takes up.

The bill’s upper-chamber analog, sponsored by St. Petersburg Democratic Sen. Darryl Rouson, was similarly ignored by the Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Tourism, Ormond Beach Republican Sen. Tom Leek.

Gottlieb, a criminal defense lawyer, said no legislator explained to him directly why they didn’t support his proposal. But he learned through other conversations that the opposition stems mostly from tort concerns — basically, some worry that enabling localities to set heat safety standards would make private and public entities more vulnerable to lawsuits.

“This isn’t intended to create a cause of action,” he said. “You could even put that in the bill. There are ways to address that (and make clear HB 35 is) not a bill of rights. They’re just mandates.”

Florida is the hottest state in the country, according to a study by Payless Power, and Gottlieb’s legislation is hardly the only heat-related bill to be filed and summarily ignored in recent years. Legislation that Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo, Sen. Rosalind Osgood, Rep. Jervonte Edmonds and former Rep. Mike Grieco carried between 2022 and 2024 to require that residential landlords provide air conditioning to tenants all died unheard.

Florida Statutes require only that landlords provide tenants with heat, which in many areas of the state — particularly in South Florida, where Pizzo, Osgood, Edmonds, Gottlieb and Grieco live — is in ample supply.

The bill DeSantis signed last year to block local heat ordinances (HB 433) didn’t pass exclusively on party lines. Republican Sens. Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia, Ed Hooper and Ana Maria Rodriguez joined GOP Reps. Linda Chaney, Vicki Lopez and Jim Mooney to vote against the measure, which also blocked local governments from imposing wage requirements on private businesses.

Calatayud, Garcia, Rodriguez, Lopez and Mooney all represent South Florida districts.

Beltran, who has since left the Legislature, said in a statement that his “no” vote was in direct response to the bill’s preemption on heat standards.

“Due to Florida’s unusually hot climate … and the diverse economy, I believe that local regulation may be appropriate,” Beltran stated. “Weather, working conditions, and the nature of work performed vary considerably throughout the state. Regulations promulgated in Washington or Tallahassee are less likely to be appropriate than in almost any other area of regulation.”

Only five states — California, Colorado, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington — have state-level standards for heat exposure, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.