Worker Heat Safety Laws Are Latest Focus of Red State Preemption

Heat safety mandates aimed at protecting outdoor workers have become the target of Republican-majority legislatures seeking to preempt local ordinances as a means of promoting a consistent, statewide policy.

A newly enacted Florida law, effective July 1, bars cities and counties in the state from imposing their own heat-protection rules on businesses, as Miami-Dade County officials had considered last year.

Its passage follows a sweeping Texas law enacted in 2023—which opponents nicknamed the “death star” law—to preempt local laws and regulations across a broad range of categories, including workplace standards such as construction worker rest break requirements on the ...