Farm groups say Florez shouldn't interfere with ongoing agency effort

Staff report

SACRAMENTO -- Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, has introduced legislation to adopt workplace heat-illness standards that a state regulatory agency is still weighing.

The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, a governor-appointed body that sets rules for the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, was expected to adopt a heat-illness standard this year that would incorporate the same rules.

But protests from stakeholders have slowed the process, and Florez's bill is pushing the issue.

Farm interests protest that the bill improperly pre-empts the board, which is expected to take further public comment before implementing rules.

Florez's bill proposes requirements for providing drinking water, shade, rest breaks and worker training on heat precautions. It would also mandate procedures for monitoring employees when temperatures top 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

A list of business groups oppose the bill, including the Agricultural Council of California, California Farm Bureau Federation and Western Growers.

Farm groups have said their awareness of existing rules has increased, pointing to training efforts that have resulted in no heat-related fatalities in California in 2009. The state board's effort was sparked by a rash of heat-related deaths in the past few years.

Worker advocates, including Worksafe and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, say they would support Florez's bill with several changes.

The bill requires cool-down breaks when workers feel fatigued from heat. Farmworker interests argue that workers receiving piece-rate pay, as many harvest workers do, are unlikely to stop for rests.

Breaks should therefore be mandatory, and workers should be paid during breaks to encourage taking them, worker advocates say.

They also say the proposed rule's trigger for providing shade should be lowered from 85 to 75 degrees.

Rather than introduce a new bill, Florez took one that stalled last year -- SB477, a proposal to boost incentives for low-income housing -- and gutted its language, replacing it with the proposed heat rules.

The procedure allowed the bill to be introduced after this year's February deadline for unveiling new legislation.