related visits to emergency rooms in california increased by 35%. our next guest represents california s riverside county which includes the desert communities of palm desert and has among the top ten highest rates of heat related er visits in california. joining us now, democratic congressman raul ruiz of california. he is the chair of the congressional hispanic caucus. he is also a physician and public health expert. congressman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. i want to get your perspective on the president finally taking heat into consideration as a public health issue, and a workplace issue. it s long overdue. as farm workers who grew up in a farmworker trailer park, i can tell you these individuals take a lot of risk working in 120-degree weather to feed america and pick the crops we all rely on to keep healthy. taking this first step in terms