NRPLUS MEMBER ARTICLE S ome sloppy reporting is worse than others.
Sometimes, a bogus media narrative is born of a half dozen cobbled-together falsehoods and misunderstandings, a conflation of ignorance and miscommunication. Sometimes, a bogus media narrative is no more complicated than sheer laziness and dishonesty on the part of journalists.
The following story falls into the “sheer laziness and dishonesty” category.
If you followed the news last week, chances are you heard that Texas has “banned” mandatory water breaks. And in this heat? Unconscionable!
“TEXANS DIE FROM HEAT AFTER GOVERNOR BANS MANDATORY WATER BREAKS,” reads a particularly anxious Texas Observer headline.
Said NBC News: “Backlash brews against Texas law that eliminates mandatory water breaks.”
“Texas law overrides safeguards like water breaks as temperatures rise,” the Washington Post reports.
Sorry to break it to the reporters and their editors, but this story is a dud. The state of Texas has not “banned” mandatory water breaks. Chalk this one up to a case of “too good to be true.”
The law signed by Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott, the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act, seeks to standardize business regulations across the state. The idea is that businesses across the board in the Lone Star State will, as a result of the law, be freer to operate more quickly and efficiently, rather than getting bogged down in region-specific red tape.
“In recent years,” the text of the legislation reads, “several local jurisdictions have sought to establish their own regulations of commerce that are different than the state’s regulations; and the local regulations have led to a patchwork of regulations that apply inconsistently across this state.”
More specifically, the bill states: “The governing body of a municipality may adopt, enforce, or maintain an ordinance or rule only if the ordinance or rule is consistent with the laws of this state.” Put another way, the bill prohibits cities and municipalities from imposing work regulations beyond what is laid out in state and federal law.
Texas state law doesn’t mandate water breaks for workers, according to OSHA. Neither does federal law. In fact, most Texas cities don’t even have mandated water breaks. The two most notable examples of such mandates are found in Dallas and Austin. (San Antonio has merely considered the idea.) So, Dallas and Austin, and — that’s basically it. All these headlines and all this coverage for local two ordinances in a state the size of several European countries combined.
As to the law itself, which doesn’t go into effect until September, it doesn’t “ban” or “eliminate” water breaks. The word “water” doesn’t even appear in the legislation. Rather, it simply dictates that cities and municipalities cannot mandate water breaks. Businesses are free to give water breaks. Employees are free to get water. Again, there’s nothing in this particular law beyond what’s found in federal law or other Texas laws.
Yet, despite the facts of the matter being entirely reasonable, relatively innocuous, and relevant to basically only two cities in all of the state of Texas, you’d think that Lone Star lawmakers had actually outlawed the partaking of a drink of water by a parched employee. You have the press to thank for this perception.
“A new Texas law gets rid of water breaks for construction workers,” claimed an Austin-based ABC News affiliate.
Said Boston’s NPR station, “New Texas law takes away water breaks amidst ongoing heat wave.”
“Workers Die in Texas Heat as Greg Abbott’s Water Break Ban Comes Under Fire,” said Newsweek.
In the nation’s capital, a familiar sight: Democratic lawmakers amplifying a message first popularized by major media.
Democratic representative Greg Casar of Texas, who helped Austin get its mandated water break in 2010, staged a much-publicized “thirst strike” this week. He lasted a little more than eight hours.
A tweet from the congressman’s office proclaimed: “9 hours without water or food, but I’m more energized than ever to get this done.”
Nine hours “without water or food” just means he skipped lunch.
“We joined [Rep. Casar] and Dolores Huerta at their thirst strike,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat, boasted. “Texas just passed a law blocking water breaks for construction workers.”
No, it did not. This is a lie. But perhaps Ocasio-Cortez can be forgiven her moment of disinformation. After all, she had probably just been watching the news.