Texas governor signs bill banning mandatory water breaks during record heat

Texas Republicans are being performatively evil again, and it’s almost impressive how contemptuous the state’s conservative lawmakers are when it comes to doing anything with government that doesn’t involve hurting people.

As world temperatures spike in truly terrifying fashion, Texas has been suffering under extreme heat itself. But soon outside laborers in Austin and Dallas will have one less protection against the heat than they do now: on June 6 Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a Republican bill nullifying local ordinances in those two cities that mandated workers be given water breaks when laboring outdoors.

Yeah, that’s right. Texas Republican lawmakers kicked off the summer months with a bill banning local regulations requiring water breaks for workers who work outside. In Texas. During record heat. And if that isn’t just being evil for the sake of evil it’s not clear what would be.

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