Attendees of a vigil for Gustavo Ramirez march in Nashville in June
The Tennessee Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would preempt an effort underway in Nashville's Metro Council to boost worker safety at construction sites.
The state House passed the bill late last month, meaning it now goes to Gov. Bill Lee.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) said the goal of the legislation was “to maintain consistency across the state.”
It would prohibit counties and other local governments from requiring contractors to gather or disclose employee data, to adhere to health and safety standards that exceed existing state and federal regulations, to be responsible for subcontractor actions or to hire temporary laborers full-time after a certain period of working on a temporary basis. The legislation also prohibits local governments from favoring companies that offer those worker benefits in the procurement process.
Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) cautioned from the Senate floor against hamstringing local governments just as they are about to undertake a generational level of infrastructure spending, thanks in part to federal COVID-19 stimulus packages.
Metro Councilmember Sandra Sepulveda sees the legislation as a direct response to her effort to establish many of those now-banned policies for companies working with the Metro Government.
Sepulveda introduced her effort earlier this year on what would have been Gustavo Ramirez’s 17th birthday. The teenager died after falling from scaffolding at a construction site last year, leading to confusion about the web of contractors and subcontractors working at the site and which was responsible for his training and safety.
"One would hope the death of a 16-year-old on a worksite would prompt not just the Metro Council but the General Assembly into action to make sure that never happens again," Yarbro says. "Sadly, that's not the case."
Sepulveda’s Metro Council legislation has passed one vote but still faces two more before it could become law. Now, in the face of the state preemption, Sepulveda says she will meet with legal counsel to discuss whether or how the legislation needs to be changed.
She says the state legislation “gutted” her and another to-be-filed piece of legislation from a like-minded councilmember.
“I’m not surprised at all,” she says. “I think it says a lot that they’re going to listen to interest groups and lobbyists and the last thing they’re thinking about is workers. … My question is, how long are we going to continue to allow the state to meddle in local government? They tie our hands when it comes to every single thing, and it’s been going on for years.”
