After the hottest year ever in Phoenix, Democratic lawmakers introduced several bills this session aimed at protecting Arizonans from extreme heat. A bill to keep construction workers safer is advancing, but others have stalled in the Republican-controlled Legislature.
Heat-related deaths in Arizona have skyrocketed in the last ten years. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, 990 people statewide died from heat-related causes in 2023 — more than six times the number of heat deaths reported a decade earlier. The number of heat-related deaths in 2024 is not yet confirmed, but nearly 6,000 visits to Arizona’s hospital emergency departments in 2024 were related to heat — a record.
Sen. Analise Ortiz this session proposed legislation to protect construction workers from extreme temperatures. Her SB 1182, which advanced out of committee with a unanimous vote, would require municipalities to allow construction work to begin earlier in the morning from May through September. Ortiz said many Arizona cities already allow this.
“It is a benefit for the construction workers to make sure that their health and safety is being taken into account, while also expediting the development of new housing,” Ortiz said.
Other Democrats proposed broader heat safety protections for Arizona workers.
Rep. Alma Hernandez, introduced HB 2382, a bill to require employers in Arizona to develop plans to mitigate heat-related illness among their employees.
“I just feel it’s a little inhumane to just put people out there to work in this excruciating heat and not have a plan in place to be able to help with any type of heat-related illness,” Hernandez said.
The city of Phoenix passed an ordinance last year to add protections for some outdoor workers in extreme heat. On a national level, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also proposed regulations for workplace heat safety. But Arizona has no statewide law to require heat precautions in workplaces.
Hernandez’s bill failed to get a committee hearing. The Tucson Democrat said Republican committee chairs told her the proposed legislation would place too much burden on employers. But Hernandez argued safety regulations to prevent heat illness would benefit employers and workers alike.
“For example, this bill required them having stations where they could get water. In my opinion, these are just common sense things that should be available,” Hernandez said.
Rep. Mariana Sandoval’s HB 2790 also proposed heat protections for more Arizona workers. The bill would require the Industrial Commission of Arizona to establish specific heat safety rules for industries including agriculture, landscaping, and mail and delivery services.
Sen. Lauren Kuby proposed new heat safety protections for renters. SB 1544 would bar landlords from setting air conditioners to a temperature higher than 82 degrees in rental units where tenants don’t directly control their own thermostat. And the bill would prohibit evictions during weeks when multiple days are above 90 degrees.
But Kuby’s bill, like Sandoval’s and Hernandez’s, failed to gain traction ahead of last week's deadline for bills to be heard in committees.
“That’s a frustration because we are in the midst of a climate crisis in our state and we can’t just ignore it,” Kuby said.
Republican chairs of the committees to which the bills were assigned did not respond to KJZZ’s request for comment.
“I’m not losing hope completely because nothing is ever truly dead until Sine Die,” Hernandez said, adding that she hopes to run her workplace heat safety bill again next session if it fails this year.
Kuby said she too hopes to see more heat safety bills succeed in years ahead.
“We see the temperatures getting hotter, we see more people dying from extreme heat exposure, and we’re not doing much about it. And it’s a crisis in our state,” Kuby said. “I do think that the Legislature is going to have to take a look at this.”
