My god! Texas has the most deaths for outside workers nationwide; 96 died last year alone in the Lone Star State. In response, Governor Abbot signed legislation overturning local ordinances requiring water breaks for construction workers during extreme and deadly heat days. The way the GQP treats the trades is abysmal.
The local law required outside workers to get a ten-minute water break and to find shade from the blistering sun every four hours. Temperatures are expected to soar into triple digits with high humidity for the foreseeable future.
In a week when parts of the state are getting triple-digit temperatures and weather officials urge Texans to stay cool and hydrated, Gov. Greg Abbott gave final approval to a law that will eliminate local rules mandating water breaks for construction workers.
House Bill 2127 was passed by the Texas Legislature during this year’s regular legislative session. Abbott signed it Tuesday. It will go into effect on Sept. 1.
Supporters of the law have said it will eliminate a patchwork of local ordinances across the state that bog down businesses. The law’s scope is broad but ordinances that establish minimum breaks in the workplace are one of the explicit targets. The law will nullify ordinances enacted by Austin in 2010 and Dallas in 2015 that established 10-minute breaks every four hours so that construction workers can drink water and protect themselves from the sun. It also prevents other cities from passing such rules in the future. San Antonio has been considering a similar ordinance.
This problem particularly affects Latinos because they represent six out of every 10 construction workers, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Unions expect heat-related deaths to go up if mandated water breaks go away.
“Construction is a deadly industry. Whatever the minimum protection is, it can save a life. We are talking about a human right,” said Ana Gonzalez, deputy director of policy and politics at the Texas AFL-CIO. “We will see more deaths, especially in Texas’ high temperatures.”
For the Republican party claiming to be about state rights, they clearly do not believe local jurisdictions can look after their people without the heavy foot of the Texas GQP on their throats.
Meanwhile, power has been lost in East Texas and is not expected to be up again until next week.
Of the 110,000 Texas households and businesses without power, the majority were customers of grid provider Southwestern Electric Power Company, according to PowerOutage.us. Southwestern Electric Power Company is independent of Texas’ electric grid, known as ERCOT. East Texas – along with the upper Panhandle and El Paso – are on separate power grids because of their remoteness and the history of utility service territories.
More than 160,000 of their customers in East Texas and Louisiana remain without power as of Sunday at 4 p.m. Some Texans may have to wait for full restoration until June 23 – a week after losing power, the provider said.
Residents are left without air conditioning amid extreme heat and humidity. Many counties in the region were under a heat warning, which means the heat index was expected to be over 105 degrees for at least two days.