PALM BEACH POST

Gov. Bush signs law to widen migrant protections

By Jane Daugherty, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 15, 2004

IMMOKALEE-- Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation into law Friday that increases protections

for migrant workers after praising it in English and Spanish and dedicating it to a farmworker

advocate who recently died in a car crash.

The law "allows people to pursue their dreams," Bush told about 40 people at a farmworker

career center in this small, Southwest Florida town that has the state's largest concentration

of migrant workers.

"Successful enforcement of these protections will ensure better living and working conditions

for many who are a vital component of Florida's second-largest industry."

Noting that as many as 300,000 people work for Florida's citrus, vegetable and nursery

plant growers and that much of that labor is controlled by 3,600 licensed labor contractors

or crew chiefs, Bush said the law increases criminal penalties for labor contractors who

physically abuse or financially exploit farmworkers.

It also restores regulation of pesticides used by Florida farmers, whose sales top $7 billion a

year. The Department of Agriculture will spend $300,000 to hire workers to enforce pesticide

regulation and notification of workers about those pesticides, Bush said.

And it addresses exploitation of farmworkers, many of them in the United States illegally,

by specifically making it a crime to smuggle people into Florida, force foreign workers into

prostitution and unlawfully detain migrant workers.

But the law -- released under the slogan "supporting Florida's growers by protecting

Florida's farmworkers" -- does not provide for any penalties for growers who knowingly

employ labor contractors who violate farmworkers rights as some advocate groups, such

as the Coalition for Immokalee Workers, had hoped it would.

Even so, Barbara Mainster, executive director of the Redlands Christian Migrants Association,

which provides child care and other assistance to migrant families, called the measure

"a good bill, a first step."

She thanked Bush specifically for the workers compensation provision that provides coverage

for many more migrant workers.

"This bill is about respect," Mainster said.

Intense lobbying by human rights advocates and newspaper exposés of the conditions,

including a series called "Modern-Day Slavery" published in The Palm Beach Post in

December, added impetus to reform efforts for an industry that Bush said adds $60 billion

a year to Florida's economy. The reform effort was sparked last year when a federal judge

in Martin County sentenced three labor crew chiefs for illegally detaining workers, calling

the practices "slavery."

"It took a lot of hard work to develop the bill, and it passed without any opposition," Bush said

before the bill-signing. "It took a lot of work to build the consensus. It was the right thing to do."

Often mentioning the effort of migrant advocates, Bush said the law will be called the

Alfredo Bahena Act in honor of Bahena's work on behalf of the rights of Florida's

farmworkers. Bahena, a member of the Farmworker Association of Florida, was killed

when his car was hit by a train last month.

Provisions of the law will:

•Prohibit labor contractors from price gouging migrant workers for food, water

and housing.

•Make it a third-degree felony to commit offenses that result in "economic or physical harm

to farmworkers" and increase fines for offenses from $1,000 to $2,500.

•Make it easier to report violations or abuses of farmworkers, including establishment

of a toll-free abuse report phone number and prohibits retaliation against those who complain.

•Restore regulation of dangerous pesticides used in agriculture previously covered in a law,

the Florida Agriculture Worker Safety Act, that was allowed to expire and was opposed for

reinstatement by some agricultural interests last year in the legislature.

•Expand and staff state inspections of farm labor vehicles, required insurance documents,

mandatory field sanitation facilities and wage records.

•Repeal what Bush called the "unconstitutional" limit of death benefits for Mexican and other

foreign workers to half that paid for Canadian workers who were killed working in Florida.

•Coordinate enforcement efforts by various government agencies. The law mandates a

formal referral process for potential violations so all agencies involved "can better coordinate

needs, concerns and potential violations."

•Re-create the Legislative Commission on Migrant Labor "to provide an active forum for

continued, ongoing progress on migrant worker issues."

Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson said, "We, the Department of Agriculture staff,

will be in the fields more to test for chemicals and to make sure they are used properly....

Our department is committed to protecting farmworkers from unnecessary exposure

to pesticides and will be educating these workers, as well as their employers, about

practices that will minimize potential hazards."

The bill was sponsored by Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Winter Haven, whose family has owned

orange groves for four generations, and Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Vero Beach, a former

citrus owner.

"This is clearly the most important piece of legislation passed this decade," Alexander said.

"This will offer Florida's farmworkers, who contribute so much to Florida's economy,

a series of protections and safety measures."