Two Years After Heat Ordinance, Tucson is Still Tackling High Temperatures
Tucson, Ariz. — “Everybody who lives here knows that it is getting hotter.”
Kevin Dahl, Tucson Ward 3 City Council member said this when asked about recentrecord-shattering temperatures. Fortunately for Tucsonans and all Arizonans, the City of Tucson is working on making the heat more tolerable, particularly for workers.
As one of the hottest cities in the United States, Tucson’s first step in building a roadmap for the rest of the state was enacting Ordinance 12100 in 2024 — a set of workers’ rights in extreme high temperatures. However, as of June 2026, Arizona still lacks equivalent state-wide protections. As climate-change related heat waves become more of a public health risk, Tucsonans hope to pave the way for other municipalities in the state to become more heat resilient.
The Daily Impact of Rising Desert Temperatures
In 2024, Tucson experienced over 100 days with high temperatures exceeding 110°F. Such temperatures and a lack of access to air conditioners can cause heat exhaustion and heat stroke — two conditions that are becoming more common due to the region’s 30 year drought.
Moreover, nearly 600 people have died in Pima County alone from heat-related deaths since 2023. As of this June, already 13 have died this calendar year. Fatima Luna, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Tucson, said the rising number of heat-related deaths is a big motivator for building heat resilience across the state. Luna also detailed how several recorded deaths were among houseless, low-income individuals and outdoor laborers lacking the proper resources to manage extreme high temperatures.
Beyond individual fatalities, severe heat can disrupt critical community structures and services, such as public schools. Elma Alvarez, a former public school teacher and current staffer in the Ward 5 Office, detailed how during the warmer months it is common for public school air conditioners to “get overworked and start breaking down” due to electric grid overload, causing “lots of children [to] miss school because it is just too hot.”
In efforts to create legislation that reflects the urgency of rising temperatures, Luna and her colleagues on Tucson City Council collaborated to enact Ordinance 12100 as a life saving measure.
Ordinance 12100 and Its Aftermath
After a declaration of a climate emergency by Mayor Regina Romero of Tucson in 2020, four years of research and development, and the first Southern Arizona Heat Summit in 2024, Ordinance 12100 was passed on June 4th, 2024. The ordinance states that non-governmental contractors with the City of Tucson must provide workers with the “ability to take regular and necessary breaks as needed” while working in outdoor environments. Breaks should provide air-conditioned, well insulated indoor spaces and access to water. Violations of the policy may result in workers’ restitution and termination of existing and future contracts between the employer and the City.
Luna, Dahl, and Tucson City Council Member Selina Barajas all noted the lack of pushback from employers liable under the ordinance.
“No one wants to be the bad guy in this,” Dahl said.
Tucson’s (and Arizona’s) Next Steps to Combat Heat Illness
Tucson’s ordinance is an important blueprint for not only other cities, but also for Arizona at large. In recent years, “more workers are” reporting heat-illnesses throughout Arizona, which has the highest outdoor labor temperatures nationwide. In an April interview with KJZZ Phoenix, landscaper Jesus Reyes recounted how “he doesn’t feel like he’s fully recovered” five years after being hospitalized for heat stroke.
In April of 2026, the Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) introduced a set of workplace heat safety guidelines at the request of Gov. Katie Hobbs. The current guidelines are set to be reviewed for effectiveness by the Arizona Department of Occupational Safety and Health later this year. Advocates hope this will lead to a comprehensive statewide policy by the end of 2026.
Regardless of what happens at the state level there’s still work to be done in Tucson. Namely, making cooling centers more accessible to Tucson’s vulnerable populations such as low-income, unhoused, elderly and “folks with certain chronic conditions,” according to Nate Young, Pima County Heat Response and Relief Program Manager.
Halima Abudakar, college senior and Environmental Justice Fellow for Barajas’ office, noted that it is common for recreation centers in Tucson to have two tofive dollar fees which create an access barrier to cooling centers for Tucsonans who rely on public spaces for shelter. Even for residents who are housed, Dahl remarked how it is common for some folks to forgo household cooling measures due to other immediate expenses, such as healthcare bills. Such economic barriers can especially cause low-income residents to prioritize saving money over protecting themselves against extreme heat.
Newer proposed solutions include the provision of transportation to cooling centers, and the addition of 15 new cooling centers between 2025 and 2026 in Pima County. At a minimum, infrastructural changes must be accompanied by public education, according to Amy Dishion, Phoenix resident and advocate with Mom’s Clean Air Force. She implores “all people to have a healthy respect for the heat,” regardless of background.
As noted by Young, by enacting Ordinance 12100 and other heat resilience strategies in Pima County, “we made some progress” in encouraging action on heat resilience statewide; a life-saving step towards improved heat resiliency measures in Arizona.
*Cover image courtesy of JC Cervantes via Unsplash.com