“To reform the H-2A program for nonimmigrant agricultural workers, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section reforms the H-2A nonimmigrant temporary agricultural worker program (i.e., authorizes U.S. agricultural employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary or seasonal crop- or livestock-related labor when insufficient U.S. workers are available) as follows: (1) transfers program administration from the Secretary of Labor to the Secretary of Agriculture; (2) expands the statutory definition of qualifying agricultural labor or services to explicitly include handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing, or delivering to storage, market, or carrier unmanufactured agricultural or horticultural commodities; (3) requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine applications within 15 days or deems them approved; (4) permits job offers to include experience requirements provided illegal-status work does not count toward them; (5) eliminates the 50-percent rule, which previously required employers to assure employment of U.S. applicants or workers for at least 50 percent of the total work hours in the job during the period of need; (6) limits required wage rates to no more than 115 percent of the highest applicable Federal or State minimum wage; (7) shortens the job order submission deadline to 30 days before the date of need (from 45 days); (8) limits initial admission period to one year with one additional one-year extension permitted only upon a Secretary of Agriculture determination of employer positive recruitment efforts, requires a two-month U.S. departure bar after two years total, and revokes status for work lapses of 60 days or more (with exceptions for pending applications); and (9) revises housing requirements to mandate employer-provided free housing meeting applicable Federal temporary labor camp standards (i.e., under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act) or local/State rental or public accommodation standards, requires employers to request inspections upon application with Secretary of Agriculture ensuring completion or followup within 28 days without delaying approvals, directs regulations for range livestock housing, and authorizes State governor-certified housing allowances in areas with adequate temporary housing for migrant and H-2A workers.