With a 9-2 vote, San Antonio City Council approved a new law Thursday that requires contractors who work on city-funded projects to provide shade, water and and breaks for workers exposed to extreme summer heat.
The measure, which aims to help prevent heat illness for workers in outdoor or unconditioned spaces, takes effect immediately and requires employers to provide a minimum 15-minute break every four hours of work. The law also requires contractors to post the new ordinance rules at current and future construction sites in both English and Spanish.
Contractors doing business with the city in the future will also be required to submit a health and safety plan to the city when bidding for contracts.
“We have a responsibility as a body to ensure that we do the bare minimum,” Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5) said. “Allowing construction workers [and] folks who work outside to drink water is not an overreach and it’s not radical. It’s a basic human right.”
During this summer’s record-breaking heat, the number of heat-related illnesses between March and August reported to the city’s health department increased by 53% over last year.
Councilmen Manny Pelaez (D8) and Marc Whyte (D10) voted against the measure, citing concerns about the city’s ability to enforce compliance as well as a lack of evidence that outdoor workers aren’t getting breaks under current laws.
“I personally believe that our contractors here in San Antonio are good folks that take care of their employees,” Whyte said. “We don’t need to be mandating them to do this when they’re already doing it. We’re creating an issue where there is none.”
But Gabriel Infante, 24, died last year after suffering from heat exhaustion while installing fiber optic cables for a private company, Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez noted.
“It’s not about whether business owners are good or bad people or if they care or not,” McKee-Rodriguez said. “It’s a system of exploitation that prioritizes productivity and profit at the expense of those who produce the product and the profit. … If I had my way, this would be a mandate for all in our city, not just our contracts.”
The original goal of the policy, proposed by Councilwoman Adriana Rocha Garcia (D4) and former Councilwoman Ana Sandoval (D7) last year, was to enact a citywide rule, but that was thwarted by House Bill 2127 — the so-called “Death Star” bill that restricts local government’s ability to regulate a wide range of industries and issues.
That bill — now facing uncertainty in the courts — would undo mandatory water break ordinances in Austin and Dallas for all contractors, as well as ban any similar future measures.
It was set to take effect Friday, but a state district judge ruled the bill unconstitutional on Wednesday. The state is expected to appeal that ruling.
Council members did not discuss expanding the new local rule to workers who are not under contract by the city.
That’s at least in part because of a timing issue, City Attorney Andy Segovia told reporters. Under the state’s Open Meetings Act, proper notice would need to be given to the community if council wanted to consider applying the rule to workers beyond city contractors.
“If you would have had an ordinance that addresses all contractors, you would have had a lot more people coming up to talk to the council,” Segovia said.
Keeping the rule confined to city contracts is less controversial because that would not likely conflict with House Bill 2127. Still, about a dozen union leaders and at least one construction company representative spoke ahead of the vote.
“This ordinance is absolutely necessary to protect the health and well-being of the workers who continue to build our city,” said Alejandra Lopez, vice president of the San Antonio AFL-CIO Council and president of the San Antonio Alliance, the local teachers’ union. “The sad truth is that this ordinance should have been passed before we broke heat record after heat record — but there is no time like the present.”
Union members typically have water and rest breaks written into their contracts, but not all workers are union members, said Matthew Gonzales, business manager for LiUNA Laborers’ Local 1095.
“Organized labor stands before you today to speak up for the nonunion, unrepresented workforce in San Antonio,” Gonzales said.
However, Lauren Mandel, president of the San Antonio Associated General Contractors, disagreed that the ordinance was necessary.
“Regardless of any state legislation or local ordinance, our members and their teams have always and will continue to protect their workers,” Mandel said.
After the meeting, she told reporters the association was “disappointed” in the new ordinance.
“All of the contractors I deal with or come into contact with are giving their folks work breaks whenever they need them,” Mandel said. “If somebody needs water, they go get water. If somebody needs shade, they go get shade. They’re not being limited.”
City Council deliberation
The process behind the new law started about eight months ago.
A large stakeholder task force comprised of construction workers, worker unions, and company owners or representatives — such as the Associated General Contractors — was formed last year to consider an ordinance that would mitigate heat illness among outdoor workers. While they all agreed on a robust awareness campaign about the dangers of excessive heat — they could not agree on an ordinance that would mandate work breaks.
Though the task force was unable to come to a consensus, the City Council’s Planning and Community Development Committee finalized the ordinance.
The new rule might benefit immigrant workers who can’t legally work here and may be too intimidated to advocate for water breaks, said Rocha Garcia, who chairs that committee. “That’s the reality, folks, unfortunately … and guess what? They’re afraid to stand up and say something.”
The break rule applies only on days that reach a heat index of 95 degrees — but San Antonio has reached that threshold nearly every day since early June. The ordinance also requires supervisors and workers to be trained on how to mitigate heat hazards and recognize illness.
Before the final vote, Whyte proposed removing the break rule and replacing it with a required “health and safety plan that includes heat illness prevention measures” for every contract submitted for city contracts.
That amendment failed with a 2-9 vote; Whyte and Pelaez voted in favor.
Later, Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7) proposed a successful amendment that kept the break rule and added the health and safety plan.
“The ordinance is not meant to harm businesses that are doing the right things,” Gavito said. “It’s meant to protect the workers who may fall victim to ‘bad apple’ contractors.”
Pelaez and Whyte then voted against adding the health and safety plan.
“The more we add, the more we regulate, the more we require of these companies that are thinking about doing city work, the less incentive they have to [apply for] it,” Whyte said.
City Manager Erik Walsh said the health and safety plans, which were not specifically defined by the amendment, will likely not be a burden for contractors.
“Most contractors are going to know what that is,” Walsh said. “In the case that they don’t, it’s not some sort of voluminous effort. It’s pretty straightforward.”
The city does not anticipate receiving a lot of complaints under the new law, but if it does, the council may need to consider spending money on more “proactive enforcement” mechanisms, he said.
The city routinely sends inspectors to building, drainage and street construction sites across the city, Development Services Department Director Michael Shannon said.
“While doing their normal, current inspection process, they can be on the lookout: Are they seeing the water? Are they seeing the shade stations?” he said.
If a contractor is found in violation of the ordinance and doesn’t fix the issue, Shannon said, that could result in a contract breach and may impact the contractor’s ability to “do business with the city in the future.”
Violations can be reported through the city’s 311 customer service hotline or mobile app.
