As extreme heat rises, Governor Newsom blocks bill to protect California farmworkers

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Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Saturday that he had vetoed a bill aimed at strengthening farm workers’ heat illness claims as they face the growing dangers of extreme heat.

This unique proposal would have made it easier for farmworkers to obtain workers’ compensation benefits when they claim they suffered heat-related illnesses on the job. Senate Bill 1299 was introduced by the United Farm Workers union, which said it was needed to supplement weakened enforcement of heat safety rules in the state’s workplaces.

In his veto message, Newsom wrote that enforcement of thermal safety rules should be done only by the state’s workplace safety agency, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA ) and not be determined by the workers’ compensation system.

The outside heat The rules, in effect for nearly 20 years, require employers to provide shade, water and breaks to outdoor workers and to monitor them more for signs of heat illness in indoor jobs. high risk such as agriculture and construction. The state added similar rules for indoor workers this year.

But understaffed Cal/OSHA has conducted 1,000 fewer construction site thermal inspections per year in recent years and has hundreds fewer violations than before the pandemic, CalMatters reported this summer . This is despite the fact that heat waves in California are becoming longer and more intense.

The United Farm Workers said SB 1299 would have forced employers to comply with heat rules, tying them more strictly to liability for workers’ compensation claims. The bill would have required workers’ compensation judges to presume that farmworkers who claim they contracted a heat illness developed it on the job.

“There is no doubt that climate change is causing an increase in extreme temperatures and that California farmworkers need strong protection against the risk of heat-related illnesses,” Newsom wrote. “However, creating a presumption of heat illness in the workers’ compensation system is not an effective means of achieving this goal.”

Such presumptions are used for other workers; firefighters, for example, have an easier time making claims for cancer because judges can assume they developed it as a result of exposures to occupational hazards. In the case of agricultural workers, the bill would have made the presumption only apply if employers cannot prove they were complying with heat rules.

The California Chamber of Commerce and insurance companies opposed the bill, arguing it would unfairly mix the workers’ compensation system with that of Cal/OSHA, which enforces safety rules. They also warned that the bill could burden employers and insurance companies for unrelated injuries, and said it was unnecessary.

Agricultural employers said the heat rules are well known and effective. A study by an insurers organization found that less than 1 percent of California farmworker claims involved heat injuries.

Newsom said his administration takes extreme heat seriously. He signed bills convening a Cal/OSHA advisory committee that began meeting last year to recommend how to study heat-related injuries, he wrote in the veto message, and to allow farmworkers to accumulate paid sick leave to avoid working during natural disasters. The agency is also starting a new agricultural unit with offices in the Central Valley.

In a brief statement, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero said that despite the veto, “the UFW will continue to work to save the lives of farmworkers.”

In recent years, Newsom has also clashed with the United Farm Workers union over a controversial new law making it easier for farm workers to form unions. After vetoing that bill in 2021 and expressing opposition again the following year, the powerful organization founded by Cesar Chavez exerted considerable political pressure – including traveling up the Central Valley to Sacramento and collecting a statement of support from President Joe Biden – to get Newsom’s signature. .