HB 1980 Virginia House of Delegates · 2025 Regular Session

Employment health and safety standards; heat illness prevention.

Summary

Employment health and safety standards; heat illness prevention. Requires the Safety and Health Codes Board to adopt regulations establishing reasonable standards designed to protect employees from heat illness and establish a list of high-hazard industries, as defined in the bill. The bill authorizes a person aggrieved by a violation of its provisions or the regulations promulgated thereunder to seek to obtain injunctive relief, to recover statutory damages of $1000, or both, in an action commenced within one year of the cause of action. The bill requires the Safety and Health Codes Board, in consultation with the Department of Labor and Industry, to develop a list of high-hazard industries by January 1, 2026, and to develop and adopt regulations requiring employers in high-hazard industries to implement standards for heat illness prevention by May 1, 2026.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

House of Delegates Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 7, 2025 Last action Feb 14, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Commerce and Labor Substitute → Engrossed · 3 edits · Feb 14, 2025

MINOR

The bill was converted from a Senate substitute to an Engrossed version, incorporating House amendments that soften the language regarding shade availability and add a specific exemption for emergency workers. These changes ensure the law does not mandate shade when it is not practically possible and protects essential emergency responders from heat illness regulations during critical operations.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed by adding an exemption for specific emergency services and by making the requirement for shade conditional on practicality rather than absolute.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement for employers to provide shade or a climate-controlled environment was modified to apply only 'when practicable,' removing an absolute mandate.

A new exemption was added to the regulations, shielding emergency law enforcement, medical services, firefighting, rescue, and utility restoration workers from heat illness standards during emergency operations.

TIMELINE

The requirement for the Safety and Health Codes Board to reassess the list of high-hazard industries every five years was moved from a standalone paragraph into the text of the initial development timeline.

Floor votes · House of Delegates Feb 3, 2025

How they voted

51–48

Passed · 1 other

Total votes 100

Feb 3, 2025

D Democratic51

51 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican49

48 Nay 1

97% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Feb 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported from Commerce and Labor with substitute and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (9-Y 6-N)

upper

Feb 4, 2025

Committee

Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor

upper

Feb 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

Read third time and passed House (51-Y 48-N)

lower

Jan 31, 2025

Introduced

Engrossed by House as amended

lower

Jan 31, 2025

Lower · Passed

Labor and Commerce Amendments agreed to

lower

Jan 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported from Labor and Commerce with amendment(s) (12-Y 10-N)

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Lower · Passed

Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) (5-Y 2-N)

lower

Jan 14, 2025

Committee

Assigned L & C sub: Subcommittee #2

lower

Jan 7, 2025

Committee

Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce

lower

1 primary · 23 co-sponsors