Teenagers in Santa Rosa are skipping sports practice because the turf is too hot. People in Los Angeles County are waiting at unshaded bus stops, covering their faces with umbrellas just to avoid getting burned. And it’s only March, with temperatures already hitting over 100 degrees in some parts of the state.

Heat is more than just an inconvenience. It’s deadly. Last year alone, California saw 14.4 emergency room visits per 100,000 residents for heat-related illness. Between 2013 and 2022, the state reported 460 deaths linked to extreme heat, though researchers believe the actual number is much higher when you account for deaths from other conditions that were made worse by heat exposure.

Here’s the problem: despite knowing about these dangers for decades and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on heat response plans, California still doesn’t treat heat like the serious public health crisis it actually is. Instead, the state’s approach is fragmented, reactive, and leaving the most vulnerable Californians behind.

Sure, the state has made some progress. Governor Newsom announced an $800 million commitment back in 2022, and there are more education campaigns, better data tools, and targeted grants to local communities. But here’s the catch, these plans don’t actually require state agencies or local governments to do much of anything. What communities get protected depends entirely on local budgets and whether politicians feel like prioritizing it.

The real issue is that heat response work is still being run primarily through emergency management rather than public health departments. That means resources are mobilized during crises instead of treating heat as the constant, ongoing public health threat that climate change is making it. Public health experts like Dr. David Eisenman from UCLA are clear: heat needs to be mainstreamed into public health work with a focus on prevention, not just crisis response.

Public health departments are already stretched thin, juggling competing emergencies, disease outbreaks, and surveillance work with uncertain funding. Adding heat to their plate without adequate resources isn’t realistic. Meanwhile, some brave local governments are stepping up where the state won’t. Los Angeles County is requiring landlords to maintain homes at or below 82 degrees starting in 2027, going further than the state itself. Fresno is making public transit free during heat waves, removing barriers for people trying to reach cooling centers.

But here’s what really needs to happen: heat needs an actual home in state government. Right now, it’s scattered across emergency management, public health, urban planning, and climate offices with no clear owner. Other states are figuring it out, Arizona and New Jersey have established heat officers within their health departments. California needs to do the same.

Without clear direction and adequate funding from the state, we’re going to keep seeing a patchwork response that protects some communities while leaving others to suffer through dangerous heat waves without support.