From The Hill: Coalition Hopes For H-2B Reform Soon

An effort is underway to add reform language to the Republican and Democratic party platforms. Appropriate language is being sent to Republican platform committee co-chairs, Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-Wisc.), Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.). The group also is working on draft language for the Democratic platform.

On the legislative front, EWIC is currently in the final phases of putting together its draft legislation and, at presstime, was aiming for a bill to be introduced in late July. In addition, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) reportedly is close to dropping a bill creating a federal commission on labor shortages and immigration reform. This could be of some interest to the industry and act as a stepping stone for legislation in the 107^th Congress.

Rumors have the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) removing the "seasonal" and "peak load" categories from the H-2B regulations; shortening the length of a time a temporary worker can stay in the United States to no longer than six months; and moving the management of the H-2B program into the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). As of July 1, DOL still had not issued any proposed language to change the current regulations.

The EWIC H-2B Reform Coalition continues to grow, with membership including a wealth of dozens of associations, organizations and businesses. This expansion reflects a broad range of industries that finally are admitting that they have serious labor shortages and an undocumented worker problem. A broad coalition will be essential to getting the job done.

ESTATE TAX MOVES FORWARD. H.R. 8 and S. 1172 represent the green industry’s best hope for eliminating the "death (inheritance) tax" in 2000. H.R. 8 passed the House of Representatives in June by a vote of 279-136. This was a key vote for the industry, as estate taxes threaten the ability of business owners to pass along viable businesses to the next generation. At presstime, the Senate was expected to pass an elimination of the estate tax before the August recess. It is hoped that the legislation will withstand a possible veto by President Clinton.

ERGONOMICS BILL BLOCKED FOR ANOTHER YEAR. Both the House and the Senate recently passed Labor/Health & Human Services/Education appropriations bills that would prohibit the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) from implementing an ergonomics program for a year. This represents progress in the industry’s ergonomics battle, although the threat of Clinton veto looms large on this issue as well.

The above "From The Hill" column is reprinted with permission from the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA). The original column appeared in ALCA’s August 2000 Landscape Contractor News and is a cooperative service between ALCA and the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA). For more information about the organizations visit their web sites at www.alca.org or www.anla.org, respectively.