A Whole New Ball Game for H-2B Users

By Tom Delaney, vice president of government affairs,
Professional Lawn Care Association of America

In 2005 Landscape contractors that use the H-2B program may be in for some big problems. On March 9, 2004, with a short press release and no prior warning, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS–formerly Immigration and Naturalization Service) stopped accepting H-2B worker applications. The reason? The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services believed that it had received enough application requests to reach the 66,000 congressionally mandated cap of visas for the federal fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2004.

The Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) and the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA) have been lobbying Congress intensely since that time to immediately pass an H-2B fix. Four separate H-2B related bills were introduced in Congress. The Senate tried to move the “Summer Operations and Services (S.O.S.) Relief and Reform Act,” (S. 2258), which would have exempted temporary workers who have participated in the H-2B program during the past two years from being counted towards the 66,000 cap. This would allow the Department of Homeland Security to immediately resume the processing of H-2B applications.

Efforts to quickly pass this bill, however, came to a halt because of objections raised by senators Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL). To address their concerns, the Senate is discussing a substitute to S. 2258 that changes the rules of the entire ball game. These changes include a one-year cap fix and makes permanent changes to the H-2B program. In S. 2258, workers who were granted H-2B status within the two previous years were not counted toward the 66,000 cap. However, the substitute being discussed would only allow the Department of Homeland Security to issue new visas for half that number of workers. For example, if 26,000 of the H-2B workers who already entered this year have worked in the H-2B program in the past two years, then the Department of Homeland Security could issue 13,000 new visas. Under S. 2258, the Department of Homeland Security would have been authorized to issue 26,000 new visas this year.

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Penalties

In addition, the substitute bill allows the Department of Homeland Security to impose a fine up to $10,000 against any employer who misrepresents a material fact on an application for H-2B workers. The employer may also be barred from using the H-2B program for one to five years.

ALCA is a sponsor of PLCAA’s Legislative Day on the Hill and Arlington Cemetery project and is providing the industry with a plan to work for a change. Please contact Tom Delaney, vice president of government affairs, at (866) 831-1109 to get registered for “H-2B Legislative Day on the Hill,” July 19-20, 2004. Attend and assist your colleagues that use the H-2B program by lobbying for changes (or helping to keep most of the present program intact). Sign up to visit your representatives and senators to educate them about your use of the H-2B program and the consequences of not being able to get the workers you need.

“There are between 1,500-1,600 landscape companies using the H2-B program. Only 264 file themselves and the rest use agents. The industry requests some 41,000 workers, but do not use that many. Texas and Colorado are the biggest users.”
(Tom Delaney, Vice President of Government Affairs, Professional Lawn Care Association of America)

Labor FACTS

Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers

CA – 115,520 workers, $23,230/year mean, $11.17/hr mean
AZ – 23,500 workers, $18,900/year mean, $9.09/hr mean
TX – 52,990 workers, $18,690/year mean, $8.99/hr mean
FL – 78,510 workers, $19,390/year mean, $9.32/hr mean
MO – 14,730 workers, $22,370/year mean, $10.76/hr mean
PA – 31,240 workers, $20,910/year mean, $10.05/hr mean

Source: www.bls.gov May 2003 data