ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: Gov. DeSantis strips worker wage, heat protection powers from cities. (Gray Rohrer, Florida Politics, April 12, 2024)

Saint Augustine, our Nation's Oldest City's patron Saint, said it best: "An unjust law is no law at all..

By law, our local governments can no longer legally protect workers from heat stroke and heat exhaustion here in DeSANISTAN, the putative "Free State of Florida," or just plaint Flori-DUH. HB 433, now Chapter 2024-80, is a stench in the nostrils of our Nation.  So much for "pro-life," Dull Republican misanthropic legislators. To our local St. Johns County State Reps., outgoing State Rep. CYNTHIA STEVENSON, outgoing House Speaker PAUL RENNER, term-limited Palatka Rep. BOBBY PAYNE, and outgoing State Senator TRAVIS JAMES HUTSON (R-HUTSON COMPANIES:  your The anti-worker and pro-corporate prejudice in Tallahassee would gag an army of maggots.  Our former Congressman, RONALD DION DeSANTIS, and other misguided MAGA politicians don't give a fig about you, your family or the working people working construction, landscaping and agriculture.  These screwed-up Scrooges have gone too far.  Excessive heat is a health hazard. How many Florida workers must die for DeSANTISTAN and its oddball notions of Constitutional law and anti-worker rights?  Looks like bumptious business group bullies and their toadies, your white supremacist legislators, found a way to make reviled members of protected classes die without help from their governments. Creeps.  From Florida Politics: 

Gov. DeSantis strips worker wage, heat protection powers from cities. 

By Gray Rohrer

Florida Politics

April 12, 2024

Regulations promulgated in Washington or Tallahassee are less likely to be appropriate than in almost any other area of regulation.'

Florida cities and counties will be barred from requiring businesses to give water breaks or other “cooling measures” to employees who work outside after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 433.

The measure also removes the power of local governments to require contractors to pay higher wages, or use higher pay as an incentive in awarding bids. The new law, which takes effect July 1, also bars cities and counties from requiring employers to give workers their work hours ahead of time.

The votes mostly fell along party lines, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed, but a handful of GOP lawmakers in each chamber also voted against it.

Sens. Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia, Ed Hooper and Ana Maria Rodriguez joined Democrats voting against it. In the House, Reps. Mike Beltran, Linda Chaney, Vicki Lopez and James Mooney were the Republicans to vote “no.”

In a statement explaining his vote, Beltran wrote that it was the preemption of the heat protections that led him to oppose it.

“Due to Florida’s unusually hot climate, the variation thereof throughout the state, 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.”

The measure was supported by business groups, which opposed a push by some local governments to impose heat protection or wage regulations on businesses and contractors.

“Running a small business is never easy, but it’s even harder when owners have to contend with a patchwork of local and sometimes contradictory rules and regulations,” said Bill Herrle, National Federation of Independent Business Florida state director, in a written statement supporting the bill signing.

“Big corporations can afford to hire compliance officers to ensure they follow every ordinance in every city and county where they do business.”

Unions and worker advocates had opposed the bill and called on DeSantis to veto the measure.