The bill reduces federal regulatory costs and preserves flexibility for small businesses but does so at the expense of worker protections, increasing the risk of heat-related illness, lost workdays, and weaker national preparedness for extreme heat.
Small-business employers (outdoor and indoor) avoid new compliance costs because the bill blocks OSHA's proposed heat-prevention rule.
Employers and small businesses retain regulatory flexibility because the bill prevents a new federal heat standard that could duplicate existing state or employer-led protections.
Construction, transportation, and energy workers face higher risk of heat illness because OSHA cannot finalize or enforce the proposed heat-prevention standard.
Low-income employees and other workers may be denied mandated protections (water, rest, shade, acclimatization), increasing heat-related injuries and lost workdays.
Urban and rural communities' public health and emergency preparedness is weakened because blocking a federal workplace preventive standard leaves the nation less prepared for rising heat risks from climate change.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Stops the Department of Labor/OSHA from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing the proposed federal heat injury and illness prevention standard or any substantially similar standard.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Mark B. Messmer · Last progress November 20, 2025
Prohibits the Secretary of Labor from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing OSHA’s proposed "Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings" standard and bars any substantially similar federal standard. It establishes a short title and makes the prohibition effective nationwide immediately upon enactment.