Key Date for H-2B Program Nears

With the Congressional recess just a week away, there is a final push to urge the legislative bodies to pass the H-2B cap extender to keep the seasonal labor force the same as it was this season.

About 30 advocates from the green and other industries that use the H-2B program met with their representatives on Capitol Hill Sept. 20 in a last ditch effort to relay the importance of passing the proposed bill before the recess Sept. 29.

House Bill 4740 and Senate Bill 2284 propose to extend the life of the current H-2B bill. While there remains a 66,000-worker cap, the provision enacted in May 2005 splits the 66,000-worker cap in half to 33,000 for each half of the year and says that any employers that have seasonal workers returning for work the next year don’t have to count those workers toward the cap.
 
Attendees at the Fly-In say the issue is more complicated for Congress than it was last year.

“We haven’t been able to get some of the people who were co-sponsors last year to sign on this year because of the election and the border security debate,” says Tom Delaney, director of government affairs for the Professional Landcare Network, explaining that some of the representatives up for re-election fear supporting the H-2B bill could affect voter allegiance. With the ongoing debate over illegal immigration and border security, Congress hopefuls are watching that they don’t step on any toes, he says.

Five representatives from Ohio attended the Fly-In, including Sandy Munley, executive director of the Ohio Landscape Association, who says most of the state’s legislators support the measure. At this point, those aren’t the representatives she’s concerned about reaching.

“It appears that a number of legislators aren’t in Washington right now because they’re campaigning, even though Congress is still in session,” Munley says. “To me, it’s disheartening.”

Munley says landscape contractors will be hurting for help if the legislation is not passed by the end of the session. One of the landscape contractors at the Fly-In with Munley, George Hohman, told her he put out a want ad announcing he had 40 positions to fill.

“He didn’t get one call,” Munley says. “It’s scary you can’t get anyone to answer the ads, let alone someone qualified.” This makes Hohman’s business even more dependent on H-2B, she says.

Even if Congress passes the bill when they return from their hiatus, those who need workers for early spring may not get that help in time, Delaney says, explaining that employers must apply for the workers 120 days ahead of time and must have proof of the work start date.

Besides the representatives that flew in Sept. 20, green industry members who couldn’t be there called their senators and representatives to stress the urgency of the bill.

Senators Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and John Warner (R-Va.) have been champions for the bill, Delaney says. Ohio Senators Mike DeWine (R) and George Voinovich (R) have been supportive as well, Munley adds.

In the end, it may depend on how the bill is attached in the House. Floating it by the House with a low-profile bill is probably the best method, Delaney says, because many members of the House have shown that they have a tough stance when it comes to border security and immigration.

“We’re still thinking it will (pass), but we’ll know next week,” Delaney says.