On Friday, April 12th, Governor DeSantis signed HB 433 into law, a bill that prohibits cities and counties from putting workplace heat regulations into place that would help protect outdoor workers from heat stress conditions, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. This state government continues to turn their back on workers in Florida in the face of a climate crisis that is making the state unaffordable and unsafe for working class people. In addition to repealing all heat protection regulations, this bill repealed and prohibits municipalities from imposing or maintaining “living wage” ordinances beginning in late 2026 These ordinances require companies doing business with local governments to pay a living wage to their employees, the amount of which is determined by the local government. This means the City of Gainesville and Alachua County living wage ordinances that the ACLC worked to enact will be repealed.
This is a disappointing outcome, and the ACLC will continue to fight against these cruel policies. The reality is that the people making these laws were elected, and the only way to ensure protection for the working class is to elect different people.
There is a great need for voter registration and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts in North Central Florida, and while many working people feel disillusioned with politics, the ACLC has been able to bring folks back into the fold and get them registered at an impressive rate, but we cannot implement our efforts at the scale that is required without help. Now is the time to activate people in our community who have been left out of the conversation, because we simply have no other choice. Please donate to the ACLC today to help us expand our voter registration and GOTV campaign. Please also sign up to volunteer for our Voter Registration and Empowerment team.