In the most shameful law Florida passed this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP lawmakers stripped counties of the right to require water and shade for employees who work in extreme heat. Not every South Florida Republican was pro-heat stroke. Here's the ones who were.
I’ve often thought that if I were to write a book about modern politics, it would be titled “The Death of Shame.” The reason: We’ve entered an era where many politicians are no longer ashamed of behavior that would humiliate most decent souls.
Still, every once in a while, politicians do something so bad, even they try to hide from their own acts.
This past legislative session, that something was a new law that makes it illegal for Florida counties to guarantee basic workplace safety for outdoor workers who toil in extreme heat — like providing shade and water.
This is the kind of stuff most people would provide for dogs.
We’re talking about water breaks in 100-degree heat. And momentary shade for roofers and farmhands.
A few counties had started talking about mandating such things — around the same time a Parkland farm worker was found dead in a ditch from heat exhaustion.
But Florida businesses — led by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which is funded by companies like Publix, U.S. Sugar, Disney and Florida Power & Light — didn’t want to be bothered with new regulations. Even those meant to keep workers safe or even alive.
So their lobbyists pushed a bill that would make such safety rules illegal. Aside from water and shade, the law also bans local rules requiring employers to offer “appropriate first-aid measures or emergency responses related to heat exposure.”
Yeah, they targeted first aid.
GOP legislators knew this bill looked heinous. So first of all, they cut off testimony for citizens who had traveled across the state to talk about how nasty it was. Then they waited until the last day of the session to pass it.
Most significantly, though, Gov. Ron DeSantis hid behind closed doors when signing House Bill 433 into law.
DeSantis normally craves attention the way zombies crave brains. He likes to livestream his bill-signings surrounded by children, Moms for Liberty and staffers who applaud on cue.
But here, there was no press conference. No big, tough declarations about how Florida is doing things differently than the rest of America.
Because, really, what could he say? Here in Florida, we aren’t doing crazy things like ensuring tomato pickers have access to drinking water!
I’ve watched Florida lawmakers pass a lot of bad bills. But I can’t recall one more cruel. Even the normally shameless politicians knew it and wanted to hide. But you deserve to know who they are.
The bill passed mostyl along party lines. In the Senate, it was supported by South Florida Republican Bryan Avila, despite the fact that his fellow Miami Republicans — Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia and Ana Maria Rodroguez — all voted no. In the House, the bill meant to ensure that workers couldn’t be guaranteed shade, water or first aid received yes votes from South Florida Republicans Fabián Basabe, David Borrero, Demi Busatta Cabrera, Mike Caruso, Tom Fabricio, Alina Garcia, Peggy Gossett-Seidman, Chip LaMarca, Daniel Perez, Juan Carlos Porras, Mike Redondo, Alex Rizo and Rick Roth.
Many consider themselves people of faith. I’d be curious to hear these folks explain their support to their spiritual leaders.
Florida physicians also decried the legislation as dangerous.
Honestly, I don’t think anyone runs for public office hoping to deny low-wage laborers access to shade on a scorching hot day. Instead, they were pressured by Florida’s big-business lobby. And they happily complied, knowing that campaign checks and endorsements were on the line.
Chamber Vice President Carolyn Johnson warned lawmakers in an email that their votes on this issue would not only be documented in the group’s “How They Voted” report card, but counted twice.
So GOP lawmakers dutifully adopted the chamber’s talking points with a goal of distracting the public from what the bill actually said — that local governments can’t guarantee “water consumption,” “cooling measures” or even “appropriate first-aid measures.” Backers instead said they simply wanted to avoid a “patchwork” of different regulations in different cities and counties.
Apparently business owners aren’t capable of complying with different laws in different places — or understanding why heat protection might be more important in, say, South Florida than North Florida.
Their arguments were, of course, garbage.
The chamber and other business groups — including Associated Industries and the Florida Home Builders Association — didn’t want to block heat-protection rules that varied from one place to another. They wanted to block heat-protection rules altogether.
We know this because Florida could have enacted statewide safety guidelines. But lawmakers refused. And the business lobby wasn’t about to tolerate local officials pushing for humane work conditions either.
The lobbyists also claimed most businesses already provided workers with heat protections in accordance with federal laws. Yet here they were, frantically opposing regulations they claimed to already have in place.
The Orlando Weekly cited a text message that a construction-industry lobbyist sent House Speaker Paul Renner’s office at 9:10 p.m. before the session’s final day, saying: “I haven’t texted you in weeks–HEAT cannot die. The entire business community is in lockstep on this.”
That’s one helluva top priority for this state’s “entire business community” — ensuring that the workers who build houses, mow lawns and harvest crops aren’t guaranteed drinking water.
Scott Maxwell is an Orlando Sentinel columnist. Contact him at smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com.
