Because Of Course - FL Legislature Bill Will Block Local Govt From Creating Heat-Protection Ordnances
A measure that will ban local governments from passing heat-protection ordinances inspired strong emotions from the public Thursday, but lawmakers approved the bill backed by big business interests. The bill also eliminates living wage ordinances that require companies that receive government contracts to pay their employees more than the state’s minimum wage (currently $12 an hour), according to Fort Myers Republican Rep. Tiffany Esposito, the bill sponsor.
But it was the provision removing local governments from passing ordinances to provide outdoor workers with protections that inspired one speaker in a committee hearing to break down in tears. “To me this bill is not about numbers, it’s about millions of Floridians and it is very personal,” said Lake Worth resident Laura Munoz with the organization Florida Student Power. She told the members of the House Commerce Committee that her father had died in a workplace accident related to a combination of unsafe working conditions and years of poor heat protections.
“OSHA failed us,” she said, referring to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that regulates workplace safety. “The private market and private employers failed us. And I am here to ask you did my father not deserve better? Did I not deserve better? How much profit was worth his life, and how much profits are worth their lives? Because I don’t think there’s money enough to ever be worth it. And you know what? Nobody can bring my father back. But what you can do to help us heal is to make sure that’s nobody has to go through this, and that’s all I’m asking you. Is that too much to ask?”
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The business community is also lined up strongly behind the provision that would prohibit cities and counties from creating “livable wage” ordinances for their contractors and subcontractors, ordinances which are now in effect in 11 local governments in the state to combat higher living costs. “Prevailing wages artificially increase the cost of the contract,” said Carolyn Johnson with the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “That will price smaller businesses from being able to actually compete or try to work with their local governments, and it also increases the costs to the taxpayer.”
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https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/02/22/despite-fls-scorching-heat-lawmakers-want-to-eliminate-local-heat-protection-rules/