Legislative Day 2005: Issue Briefings

Hundreds of lawn and landscape professionals are gearing up for the Professional Landcare Network’s Legislative Day on the Hill early next week, and some are already in Washington, D.C. for PLANET’s Summer Leadership Meeting. For those individuals planning to meet with lawmakers in Washington, as well as for all professionals who want to brush up on important industry issues and share their positions with their local legislators, the association has put together four issue briefings with all the information you’ll need.

Lawn & Landscape has posted the briefings below, in MS Word format, for your convenience:

Issue Briefing: Association Health Plans
Issue Briefing: Pest Management
Issue Briefing: Turfgrass Research
Issue Briefing: H-2B

PLANET Director of Government Affairs Tom Delaney notes that individuals who would like to participate in face-to-face meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill may still make appointments with their senators and congressmen and women. He encourages anyone interested to visit CongressWeb.com to identify their state legislators and call those lawmakers’ offices directly to set up appointments. Hill visits are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 19.

In addition to PLANET’s issue briefings, the American Nursery & Landscape Association notes the following bills of interest to the green industry. Use the links below for background information on each issue through ANLA's Web site.

• S.406 ‘A bill to amend the title I of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 to improve access and choice for entrepreneurs with small businesses with respect to medical care for their employees.’
• S.359 'A bill to provide for the adjustment of status of certain foreign agricultural workers, to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to reform the H-2A worker program under that Act, to provide a stable, legal agricultural workforce, to extend basic legal protections and better working conditions to more workers, and for other purposes.'
• S.352 'A bill to revise certain requirements for H-2B employers and require submission of information regarding H-2B non-immigrants, and for other purposes.'
• H.R.884 'To provide for the adjustment of status of certain foreign agricultural workers, to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to reform the H-2A worker program under that Act, to provide a stable, legal agricultural workforce, to extend basic legal protections and better working conditions to more workers, and for other purposes.'
• H.R.793 'To revise certain requirements for H-2B employers and require submission of information regarding H-2B nonimmigrants, and for other purposes.'
• H.R.525 'To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to improve access and choice for entrepreneurs with small businesses with respect to medical care for their employees.'
• H.R.121 Plant Patent Bill
• H.R.98 Immigration / Nationality Act - Improved Social Security Cards
• H.R.64 Permanent Repeal of Estate Tax