Page 44 - Free State Spring 2022 - June FINAL

AMERICANHORT A

News from the Hill

Biden Administration to Release state or federal rules, leaving federal Toward Senate Action on Limited
35,000 Supplemental H-2B Visas government through the EPA and Immigration and Visa Measures
the lead agencies in each state as
The Department of Homeland Security Collaborating under the coalition
co-regulators. If enacted, the bill would
(DHS) and Department of Labor (DOL) “umbrella” of the Alliance for a New
immediately preempt local ordinances,
announced a joint temporary final Immigration Consensus, AmericanHort
such as the one enacted in Baltimore,
rule to release an additional 35,000 is helping to push the Senate to take
Maryland, in 2020, which banned
H-2B visas for seasonal nonagricultural positive action on limited but urgent
private and public use of chlorpyrifos,
workers for the second half of the and timely immigration reforms,
neonicotinoids, and glyphosate.
year beginning on or after April 1, including an agricultural component.
2022, through September 30, 2022. Of The issue of local preemption carries a And, there is a little stirring, with
the visas, 23,500 will be allocated for long history, dating back to 1991 when conversations on the topic reportedly
returning workers and 11,500 will be the U.S. Supreme Court ruled localities occurring among leading Judiciary
allocated for workers from El Salvador, could impose pesticide use restrictions Committee members including
Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti. except when preempted by state law. Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL), John
At present, only four states – Alaska, Cornyn (R-TX), and Thom Tillis (R-NC).
The official rule is expected to be
Maine, Maryland, and Nevada – do not
published by the end of April with the How can you help directly? The
restrict local ordinances, while several
hope of having the H-2B workers in the Alliance circulated a sign-on letter for
other states allow local ordinances
United States by early May. The rule individual businesses to call on the
only under special conditions.
will include some additional integrity Senate to act. The letter was open
measures and worker protections, Rep. Rodney Davis introduced the for individual companies/businesses
similar to those required last year legislation (see link below) with 10 GOP to sign onto by May 9. If you missed
and in January for first-half-cap colleagues, aiming to build support this deadline, you are encouraged to
supplemental visas. High demand will for incorporation into the next Farm still contact your representatives and
likely trigger a new lottery to access the Bill, which often includes legislation let them know the importance of this
additional returning worker visas. amending or renewing federal legislation.

This is a significant win for pesticide law. A similar proposal From an agricultural workforce
the horticulture industry, and circulated during the 2018 Farm Bill perspective, the House last year
AmericanHort will provide updates debate, but failed to garner sufficient passed the Farm Workforce
as warranted. bipartisan support. Sponsors hope for Modernization Act. Senators, led
more luck this next go around when
Laurie Flanagan and Craig Regelbrugge the Farm Bill is up for renewal in 2023. by Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Michael
Bennet (D-CO), are negotiating a
House Bill Seeks Consistent https://rodneydavis.house.gov/posts/ Senate version of the bill. So there is
Pesticide Regs davis-introduces-legislation-to-prevent- a real possibility of progress this year.

A group of lawmakers recently liberal-local-governments-from- However, if inaction prevails, our H-2A
introduced legislation to prevent local banning-or-restricting-pesticide-use user community will likely see a new
governments from implementing more Evan Lee H-2A wage rule later this year that will
stringent pesticide restrictions than drive up program cost and complexity.

44 SPRING 2022 • Free State News