H2B Form

Immigration
The H-2B non-agricultural temporary worker program allows U.S. employers to request temporary visas to bring in foreign nationals for non-agricultural jobs like landscaping.

In fiscal years 2010, 2011, 2012, the H2B visas issued did not reach the annual cap of 66,000 (33,000 for each six month period): FY 2012 "?u 50,009, FY 2011 "?u 50,826 and FY 2010 "?u 47,403.

The target number of potential H2B beneficiaries that the Department of Homeland Security estimates will be needed, taking into account withdrawals and denials, to reach the maximum number of visas for the first half of this year is 41,000.

The target numbers for the first six months of the previous four years have been higher than this year's: 2013 "?u 44,000, 2012 "?u 45,000, 2011 "?u 47,000 and 2010 "?u 47,000.

Minimum Wage
A Senate proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 was defeated in April, 54-42.

The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour was last raised in 2009.

Compared to the federal minimum wage, 20 states pay a higher rate. Ten of those states (Ariz., Colo., Fla., Mo., Mont., Nev., Ohio, Ore., Vt., and Wash.) adjust their rates annually for inflation. Nevada adjusts in July – the rest in January.

Biofuel
The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute continues their campaign for more effective signage requirements to help prevent consumers from putting the fuel in their lawn mowers, string trimmers and similar equipment.

Fuels America, a pro-ethanol group, reported that more than 80 percent of Americans polled said they would support having E15 available at their local gas stations.

The EPA plans to reach a decision in late June on their proposal to rollback the amount of ethanol required to be used this year from 14.4 billion gallons to 13 billion gallons. Since November, the EPA received over 343,000 comments on its proposal.

A model designed at Iowa State University to compute the profit of ethanol producers calculated that the last week of March produced the highest weekly ethanol profit ever of $4.50 per bushel of corn. The average ethanol plant profit from 2007 to 2013 was 20 cents per bushel.