Highlights of Senate Bill 2087
Agricultural Workforce and Employment Protection Act of 2005 

Over the past decade, agriculture and its related industries have been trying to maintain a dependable, legal workforce in numbers adequate to produce food and fiber for this country. As Congress prepares to debate the issue of illegal immigration, our challenge is to make sure that our needs are considered and that any comprehensive immigration reform includes provisions that meet those needs.

In response to concerns expressed by agricultural employers across the nation, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia recently introduced S.2087, the Agricultural Workforce and Employment Protection Act of 2005. Highlights of S.2087 are outlines below.

• Replaces the AEWR with “prevailing wages” as determined by using the same state surveys that determine wages for all occupations in a local area.  Further, the bill allows growers to conduct their own surveys (using a state-approved methodology) if they disagree with the state’s determination.
   
• Provides a chance for growers to get into H2A and retain their experienced workforce by eliminating the bar for their workers who have been here illegally.
   
• Will expand eligible employers to include livestock, dairies, forestry, landscaping, fishing and processing of meat, poultry and fish.
   
• Contract/work period is expanded to eleven (11) months with leeway for extension due to weather, etc. and travel. The worker is temporary rather than the job and can stay in the US for three consecutive work periods before leaving the country.
   
• Recruitment of domestic workers will last no longer than the first day work begins.
   
• “Arriaga” concerns are specifically addressed by clarifying the FLSA law governing reimbursement during the first week of employment and excluding  visa, consular,  international border-crossing fees or any other fees associated with the worker’s lawful admission into the United States to perform employment as reimbursable costs.
   
• Housing vouchers can be issued in lieu of providing housing if the governor of the state certifies that housing is available.
   
• Mediation is required before any party can bring a civil action for damages on behalf of a nonimmigrant.  No foreign worker can be provided services by Legal Services Corporation unless he/she is in the country at the time the service is provided.
   
• This bill asserts private property rights.  The H2A employer does not have to permit any recipient (or its employees) of Legal Services Corporation grants or contracts to enter upon the employer’s property unless the Legal Services representative has a prearranged appointment with a particular H2A worker.
   
• Creates a Level II H2A category for supervisors which will allow petitions for adjustment to LPR status after 5 years without the worker leaving the country during processing.
   
• Creates H2AA for employers whose workforce crosses the border to work and returns home the same day.  This program does not require the provision of housing or reimbursement of transportation.
   
• Creates a transition program to allow employers to petition for 2-year, non-extendable “Blue Card” visas for their undocumented workers.  This adjustment to legal status can be done while the worker is in the country and allows both the worker and employer time to transition into a non-immigrant program such as H2A or for the worker to return home and apply for LPR status while outside the country.