PUEBLO (Colorado) CHIEFTAIN

March 19, 2008

House panel approves farmworker bill

By CHARLES ASHBY
CHIEFTAIN DENVER BUREAU

DENVER - It took her several attempts, but an El Paso County Republican finally convinced a House committee Tuesday to approve her bill to help get Mexican farmworkers into Colorado.

The idea of trying to find a way to help Colorado farmers secure legal immigrant workers they need for fieldwork came to Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, last summer after hearing from farmers that recent state immigration laws have scared the workers away.

Since then, Looper has drafted and redrafted a measure numerous times - 26 to be exact - to create a pilot program that would match Colorado farmers with Mexican workers, including establishing an employment office south of the border.

The program, which the House State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee approved on a 7-4 vote, calls on the Colorado departments of labor and agriculture to help obtain applications through a federal agriculture worker visa program.

Along the way, however, Looper ran into a lot of questions and even more opposition, ranging from people who don't want foreign workers in the country to others who worried they may try to stay.

"I have heard references to the (federal) labor program as slave labor," she said. "But if one talks to the workers, they are thankful that they can come to Colorado and get a decent wage."

Looper ultimately had to dramatically alter the bill, doing away with such provisions withholding 20 percent of a worker's pay until they actually return home, and asking for a federal waiver to allow the state to play a greater role in the application process short of actually issuing visas.

Others were concerned that the state would need to spend additional resources policing the workers out of a fear they might flee a farm and become an illegal immigrant. "We still are concerned about the penalties section," said Patricia Medige, an attorney with Colorado Legal Services. "Some parts of this bill . . . creates a redundant process. The criminal provisions just inappropriately involve law enforcement. They should be enforcing public safety rather than getting involved in worker issues."

Still, farming and ranching groups and even the Colorado chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business supported the idea, saying that while it may not fully fix the state's cheap-labor shortage, it takes a positive step in that direction.

Brock Herzberg, director of government affairs for the Dairy Farmers of America, said that while his industry can't participate in the pilot program, anything that helps bring seasonal agriculture workers back to Colorado is a good thing.

"The reason we are supporting and actively working on behalf of Representative Looper is we believe the overall discussion on farm labor is critical to dairy and to agriculture, and along with water, one of the most important issues facing Colorado agriculture," Herzberg said. "Labor will be one of the factors in ensuring the continued success and economic development of not only the dairy industry, but the overall ag industry."

Under the bill, which now heads to the House Appropriations Committee, the state's labor department would help Colorado farmers process their applications to a federal agriculture worker program called H-2A, but only for a limited number of farmers.

At the same time, the state would hire an agent somewhere in Mexico who would find seasonal workers who not only want to come to Colorado, but also plan to return home when the season ends.

The five-year program, which Looper introduced with Senate President Pro Tem Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, would begin with 1,000 workers the first year and add an additional thousand in each of the remaining four.

The program calls for the farmers to follow the same rules governed under the H-2A program, including providing housing, meals and transportation.

Proponents say that while current law already allows farmers to do all that on their own, the cost of getting it done can be astronomical, and there's still no guarantee they actually will get the workers they need.

"It can cost thousands of dollars per employee to get that application through, and that usually involves the hiring of an attorney," said Kristin Thompson, spokeswoman for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union. "We don't see this as the entire solution. We're looking at a shortage of about 9,000 employees in agriculture. This is a very complex problem and it's going to require complex solutions.