BONITA DAILY NEWS

March 20, 2006

Changes may be coming for farmworkers

Senate votes unanimously to pass transportation safety bill; more improvements likely on the way for agricultural workers, lobbyist says

By Laura Layden

Last year, advocates say, farmworkers got the snub.

Legislators failed to approve money to replace farmworker housing destroyed by hurricanes, they didn't pass a bill requiring seat belts in vans transporting farmworkers and they didn't agree to give immigrant students in-state tuition.

But this legislative session is shaping up to be a much better one for farmworkers.

On Thursday, the Senate voted unanimously to pass a transportation safety bill that would make seat belts mandatory in vans carrying agricultural workers. The bill, adjusted slightly since last year, has one more committee to go through before reaching the House floor.

It's a bill advocates have pushed for years, but it never found the support it needed to get passed. This year is different.

"It has been passing unanimously in every committee that it has been heard in," said Karen Woodall, a lobbyist for the Farmworker Association of Florida and Farmworkers Self-Help, a grassroots organization focused on social justice.

Though it's still early in the session, advocates are more optimistic than they've been in years. They expect to see real changes made this year to improve the lives of farmworkers.

"We've got a lot to do," Woodall said. "Don't get me wrong. But we've been very pleased with the progress that has been made and it has been a long time coming. People have been coming here for the last 20 years trying to get to this place."

In years past, farmworker concerns typically have been taken up late in the session.

Woodall sees it as a good sign that the transportation safety bill has made it so far, so fast.

"It's a first to have a bill up and out in the first week," she said. "That is a historical event."

She said Republican leaders with ties to the agricultural industry, such as Rep. JD Alexander and Sen. Baxter Troutman, are leading the charge on farmworker concerns this session. They're pulling people together to work toward solutions.

Alexander and Troutman, both of Winter Haven, are sponsors of the transportation safety bill.

Transportation-related accidents are one of the leading causes of death for Florida's farmworkers. They've killed more than 80 farm laborers and caused more than 400 injuries.

Many accidents have occurred in vans that don't have seats. If seat belts are required, seats will be, too.

"We're pretty confident that the transportation safety bill is going to pass," said Rob Williams, director of the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Tallahassee.

Locally, Rep. Mike Davis, R-Naples, supports the legislation.

"When I get in the car, I put on a seat belt and I think everyone should," he said.

Farmworker advocates are continuing the fight to make undocumented immigrant children eligible for in-state tuition this session. They've been pushing for it for years.

"We've made some changes to the bill this year and it's not everything we would want, but it's a first step," Williams said.

In the House, Rep. Juan Zapata, R-Miami, has sponsored the bill. He's done so for the past four years.

The legislation would give undocumented immigrants who attend a Florida high school for three years and graduate from a Florida high school the ability to pay in-state tuition at the state's colleges and universities.

Now these children are classified as nonresidents and must pay out-of-state tuition, which can be more than six times as much.

Tuition for Florida residents at the University of Florida last year was $2,045. That compared with more than $14,000 for nonresidents.

There are signs this bill also may pass this session.

"The first two years it passed out of the Senate and the House didn't take it up," Zapata said. "The third year it made some progress in the House, but the Senate lagged a little behind. This year we are making progress."

Some have portrayed the bill as an immigration issue, but Zapata insists it's not.

Opponents have argued that it rewards unlawful behavior. Zapata doesn't see it that way. For him, it's about fairness.

"I would challenge anybody to show me what these kids have done wrong," he said. "They have done nothing wrong. Quite contrary, they've done everything right. They've graduated. These are the success stories that we're talking about. Why would we then want to pull the plug on that and not allow them to further their education?"

It's hard enough for farmworker families to afford to send their children to college on what little they make, he said.

A new priority for advocates this year is to extend access to the Florida Kidcare program to immigrant children. The program provides health insurance to needy kids. In 2004, the rules were tightened so that immigrant children no longer could apply.

Davis has sponsored the bill in the House.

Without insurance, farmworker families have to turn to the emergency room for care, where they know they can't be turned away. And that's just not a cost-efficient way to provide health care, Davis said.

Under the program, children can receive care whenever they need it from a primary physician and their parents pay premiums of $15 to $20.

"If we can start these young kids out with a culture including health care as part of their lives, that is just going to be good for all of us in the end," Davis said.

Alexander has sponsored a bill that would change the formula used to determine unemployment compensation. This could help farmworkers get by when they don't have enough work.

Now, the most recent work history can't be used to determine eligibility for unemployment benefits, which makes it tough for seasonal workers to qualify.

Based on the current formula, the last three months of work may not be counted.

Qualifying can be especially hard for farmworkers if a hurricane or freeze hits, putting them out of work for months.

Only documented workers can apply for unemployment compensation. But there are still many farmworkers who are legal and who could qualify if the rules were changed, Woodall said.

More than a dozen states already have made the change, including Georgia and North Carolina.

The estimated cost of changing the formula is $10 million. That money could come out of the interest drawn from the state's unemployment compensation trust fund, which has more than $1 billion in it, Woodall said.

Farmworker advocates also are supporting a resolution by Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, that proclaims March 31 Cesar Chavez Day.

Chavez was the son of migrant parents and he formed the United Farm Workers Union, which is devoted to improving the working conditions of immigrants.

Other priorities include getting $20 million to build more housing for farmworkers.

Affordable housing is a hot topic this session, and Davis, who has been selected as the point man on the issue in the House, said it's important to consider the need from every point of view.

"For all Florida residents that are on that very low economic scale, we are trying to make sure there are programs in place to ensure safe adequate housing to live and raise their families in," he said.