a year in the life of H-2B Reform on Capitol Hill
By John Ariale, Husch Blackwell Strategies OABA’s Government Relations Team
A
great deal of energy goes into our collective efforts in
Washington every year and 2019 was no different. Our government relations engagement strategy, education, and political support initiatives resulted in significant gains during the year, but we all recognize that a great deal of work remains to be done.
Champion Development Thanks to the hard work of
OABA’s government relations team in Washington, combined with the diligent and focused work of OABA members to reach out to their elected officials, we were once again able to achieve some successes during 2019. Developing champions
in Congress has been and will remain a main objective of our government affairs strategy. When we first began implementing this objective, we had 1 or 2 U.S. Senators willing to be outspoken for us on H-2B reform and today we have 13 active legislative champions and 35 Senators who have signed letters of support for us. On the House side, we began with a solid 5-8 Congressional supporters... and today we can count a solid 46 active legislative champions and 136 Representatives who have signed letters of support for our cause. This success marks a tremendous endeavor by OABA and its member- ship and was achieved as a result of our collective engagements in conjunction with the efforts of H-2B Workforce Coalition, the Seasonal Employers Alliance (SEA) and other key stakeholders.
H-2B Cap Relief
This map depicts Congressional Districts where federally elected officials have supported one of our H-2B Reform Bills (in green) or have signed a letter supporting our issues (in yellow).
Fiscal Year FY16
FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 Provision Returning Working Exemption with 3 year look-back
DHS Discretionary Language developed allowing for DHS to release up to approximately 65,000 additional visas once certain conditions are met.
Same as FY17 language Same as FY17 Language Same as FY17 language
Extra Visas % Increase 18,468 28%
13,534 21%
15,000 23% 30,000 45% TBD
In addition to developing cham- pions, we have engaged a strategy to share your stories with elected officials and your stories are com- pelling. Due to the seasonal nature of this industry, combined with the challenges of securing reliable seasonal labor and the mobility of those engaged in the business, the industry has relied on some 6,500 to 7,000 H- 2B visa employees. This industry has a very high percentage of returning labor each season with its seasonal guest workers in the H-2B visa program. The H-2B visa program has been plagued with constantly changing H-2B
OABA midway ma rquee2020 EDITORIAL 13
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