Approved on the final day of the state’s legislative session, the bill (HB 433) would also gut local “living wage” ordinances passed in some communities, beginning in the fall of 2026, and prevent local governments from enacting predictive scheduling laws, which essentially require employers to notify hourly workers of their work schedules in advance.
The predictive scheduling ban was a last-minute edit to the legislation, which previously would have prevented local governments from enacting any regulation of terms and conditions of employment.
The legislation, sponsored by first-term Republican Rep. Tiffany Esposito, was opposed by most Democrats (and a smattering of Republican legislators in swing districts), but backed by the deep-pocketed business lobby.
Records obtained by the investigative newsletter Seeking Rents show the legislation was at least in part drafted by lobbyists for the business-friendly Florida Chamber of Commerce, which has historically campaigned against minimum wage increases and has sought a ban on “living wage” ordinances for years.
Esposito herself is the president of a regional Chamber of Commerce in Bonita Springs, and sponsored similarly preemptive legislation targeting local communities’ tenant rights laws last year.
The ban on local living wage ordinances has been years in the making. These are essentially local laws passed by some city or county governments that require the employers they contract with to pay a minimum wage that’s higher than the state minimum wage of $12 an hour.
Florida’s minimum wage is already set to rise $1 each year until it reaches $15 an hour on Sept. 20, 2026, due to a constitutional amendment Florida voters approved in 2020 (despite an opposition campaign spearheaded in part by the Florida Chamber of Commerce).
Under the bill approved Friday, thousands of employees in communities with such ordinances in place could see their wages change, come October 2026. The bill would not affect direct employees of the city or county governments, however, which would maintain the right to regulate the wages of their own employees.
It’s unclear how many contracted workers would be affected (and Esposito couldn’t say for sure herself) but in Miami-Dade, it’s expected to affect more than 28,000 employees — from airport baggage handlers to custodians and healthcare professionals — according to the Miami Herald.
Esposito, who argued the bill would “protect” taxpayer dollars, refused to answer whether workers could see pay cuts if the bill is signed into law. “Could wages go down? Maybe,” she admitted, during the bill’s first hearing. “It's up to the prerogative of the employer.”
The ban on workplace heat safety standards — which gained national attention after a summer of record-breaking heat — appears to be largely targeting a proposed ordinance in Miami-Dade County, where county commissioners last fall considered adopting landmark standards for heat exposure that would have been stronger than what’s already required under state and federal law (which isn’t much).
No other community in Florida has passed any local ordinance mandating such a thing. This bill would prevent local communities from trying.
Lobbyists for the agricultural industry, which employs a lot of the workers who would have been affected, managed to water down the proposed ordinance in Miami-Dade County before ultimately delaying a vote on it last fall.
County commissioners were scheduled to take up a vote on it on March 19.
The state legislation approved last week was strongly opposed by the organized labor movement — which has fought similar preemption attempts in the past — in addition to immigrant rights groups and other workers’ rights organizations.
“This is all about some really unscrupulous folks wanting to come in and not play by the rules,” Dr. Rich Templin, director of politics and public policy for the Florida AFL-CIO, told Orlando Weekly earlier this month. “And the Legislature is all too happy to oblige them.”
Democratic lawmakers filed amendments throughout session to either water down the proposal or otherwise strengthen statewide heat protection standards ahead of its passage, but as usual, all were rejected by the Republican majority.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which has published voluntary guidelines on heat safety in workplaces, has been called upon by the Biden administration to develop federal heat exposure standards, but has not yet done so.
Only three states — California, Oregon and Washington — required heat breaks for outdoor workers, as of last June. A couple other states, such as Colorado and Minnesota, have limited regulations. A set of bills in Florida this year (SB 762/HB 945) sponsored by Democrats sought to similarly adopt limited standards, but were ultimately ignored.
Currently, employers that fail to provide a heat-safe workplace in Florida can face a potential fine from OSHA under the agency's “general duty” clause, but few ever do.
Florida Republicans, regardless, pointed to OSHA’s voluntary guidelines and the risk of being fined for failing to protect workers on the job as defense of the preemptive legislation, which remained divisive to the end.
The preemption on wage and scheduling policies in Florida’s bill, in particular, almost died in the Florida Senate, which didn’t get on board with that portion of the bill until the second-to-last day of session. That’s when Esposito (the House sponsor) agreed to delay the implementation date to Sept. 30, 2026.
The Senate version of the proposal (SB 1492), sponsored by GOP Sen. Jay Trumbull, only targeted workplace heat safety requirements, but the Senate ultimately agreed to take up its broader companion in the House.
House Bill 433 passed the state Senate on Friday in a 24-15 vote, with four Republicans joining Democrats in voting "no" on the bill. The Republican-dominated Florida House approved the bill in a 74-36 vote just an hour later, similarly with just a handful of Republican representatives joining Democrats in opposition.
The bill now heads to DeSantis for his signature.
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