Landscape Architect Articles

LCN Labor Issues June, 200406-01-04 | News

Texas Green Industry
Workers’ Comp. Board Named

DALLAS, Texas–The Hotchkiss Insurance Agency, Inc. (HIA), a provider of insurance services to landscape contractors and other specialty industries in Texas, announced April 6, 2004 that Johnette Taylor, Greg Walsh and Candy Atkins will make-up the company’s board of directors for the newly formed Texas Green Industry Workers’ Compensation Group (TGI).

The TGI group, underwritten by Texas Mutual Insurance Company, includes growers, landscape contractors, nurseries, and other green industry businesses. TGI asserts it will provide qualifying members a competitive option for workers’ compensation coverage.

“I am excited about the opportunities on the horizon for the Texas Green Industry WC Group, and believe we have selected a very strong group to serve on the board,” remarked Doug Hotchkiss, president of the Hotchkiss Insurance Agency.

About the Board

Johnette Taylor, a licensed landscape architect, is president of Roundtree Landscaping, Inc., Dallas, Texas, a full service design/build firm she founded in 1984. She earned her BA in landscape architecture degree from Louisiana State University in 1981. Prior to founding Roundtree Landscaping, she served as corporate secretary/treasurer and landscape designer for Rosedale Nurseries. Ms.Taylor is a licensed irrigator and a certified irrigation auditor in Texas. She’s an active member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Associated Landscape Contractors of America, and the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association (TNLA). She chairs the TNLA education committee and was recently elected chairman of the TNLA’s Dallas region. She also serves on the Dallas Arboretum Gardens and Grounds Committee.

Greg Walsh is a CPA and chief financial officer of tree town U.S.A., one of the largest producers of container grown trees in the United States, with 2,500 acres of growing facilities in Texas and Florida. Mr. Walsh has over 20 years of workers’ comp. risk management experience in such diverse fields as the green industry, oilfield service and aviation.

Candy Atkins is operations manager for the commercial division of HIA in Dallas, Texas. She joined the agency in 1990. She is certified as an insurance counselor and insurance service rep., with more than 20 years experience in the insurance industry.

The Hotchkiss Insurance Agency was founded in 1975. The Texas Department of Insurance approved HIA?EUR??,,????'???s application to form and maintain the Texas Green Industry Workers?EUR??,,????'??? Compensation Group in January of 2004. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, HIA has statewide locations in Houston, San Antonio, Bryan/College Station, Fredericksburg, Kerrville, and Boerne.

For more information, visit www.hotchkissins.com

AgJOBS Bill Reaches Critical 60th Co-sponsor Mark

Senator Ted Stevens (R–AK) became the 60th co-sponser of the bill to overhaul the H-2A agricultural guest worker program.

Washington, D.C – On May 5, 2004, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), president pro-tem of the Senate and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, became the 60st U.S. Senator to co-sponsor the AgJOBS bill (S. 1645). He followed the lead of Senators John Rockefeller (D-WV), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), who had just announced their support of the legislation. The following week, on May 12, Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) pushed the support total to 62.

Surpassing the 60th co-sponsor is important as it represents the “filibuster-proof margin” necessary to overcome procedural delaying tactics and move a bill to a vote in the Senate.

“In this year, an election year, where it seems like so little is going to get passed, 60 really gives us the ability to get it moving,” said a spokesman for Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig. Sen. Craig introduced the legislation with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) last fall.

“Congress must hear from every member of the nursery, greenhouse, and landscape community if we are to win this long and difficult battle,” said Craig Regelbrugge, senior director of government relations for the Washington, D.C.–based American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA). “With 60 reached, the next few weeks promise to be very dynamic. We will continue to seek both Senate and House co-sponsors, while our Senate champions determine how they wish to move the bill.”

The AgJOBS bill, and House companion bill (H.R.3142) would overhaul the H-2A agricultural guest worker program that does not meet the labor needs of the U.S. green industry. The bill would offer an opportunity for many foreign workers who lack legal immigration status a chance to earn permanent legal status through their much needed labor. ANLA chairs the Agriculture Coalition on Immigration Reform.