Austin construction workers dig on a hot day in August 2021. Earlier this week, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that overturns local ordinances in Austin and Dallas that mandate regular rest breaks for such workers. Credit: Blaine Young
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Because he works in Dallas, a local ordinance gives him the right to at least a 10-minute rest break every four hours. But this is the last summer he’ll get to claim it.
On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 2127 — the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act — which bars cities and counties from passing regulations that are stricter than state ones. It also overturns local rules such as ordinances in Austin and Dallas that mandate rest breaks for construction workers.
Three years before Dallas implemented its rest-break ordinance in 2015, Ontiveros lost feeling in his arm after painting high school stadium stairs for more than 10 hours in 112-degree heat, he told Public Health Watch through a translator..................................
............Surveys of Dallas construction workers before the city’s ordinance was adopted found that 33% said they didn’t receive rest breaks and 66% said they didn’t receive water. At least 53 Texas workers died from heat-related illnesses between 2010 and 2020, according to a 2021 investigation by NPR, The Texas Newsroom, The California Newsroom, Public Health Watch and Columbia Journalism Investigations. ..................
