Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, has filed a measure that would increase requirements and oversight of foreign labor contractors.
Assembly Bill 1362 would require all H-2A contractors to register with the state and mandate that employers provide safe living conditions and prevent coercive practices, such as passport confiscation.
In 2014, former state Senator Darrel Steinberg, D-Sacramento, later the longtime mayor of Sacramento, advanced a bill to register contractors.
But according to Kalra, a drafting error in the eventual law means the state protects about 3% of California’s guestworkers with H-2B visas. He identified H-2A visa holders among those still vulnerable to unfair recruitment practices.
Asm. Ash Kalra, D-San Jose“For too long, the vast majority of temporary foreign workers have remained unprotected and subject to the documented abuses of unscrupulous foreign labor recruiters,” said Kalra in a statement. “AB 1362 will close a harmful loophole by ensuring all temporary immigrant workers, such as domestic workers, agricultural workers and nurses, are protected against wage theft, human trafficking and other labor violations.”
The bill cites data from the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, which found that H-2A workers had the highest rates of human trafficking among temporary visa holders. It also argues that California’s farm labor contractor requirements do not protect people at the time of recruitment in their country of origin.
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here.
“California is overdue in fulfilling the original intent of SB 477 and in light of actions at the federal level, we must take the lead to empower all temporary workers, protect law-abiding businesses, and prevent fraud, debt bondage, exploitation, and human trafficking throughout the state,” said Ruth Silver Taube, who coordinates an advocacy group to end wage theft.
It is not the first time Kalra has pushed for more H-2A regulations. A 2021 measure would have required employers to compensate workers for travel time to work, but it faced opposition from California Farm Bureau and Western Growers Association, among other agriculture groups, and was ultimately vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
AB 1362 is sponsored by Freedom United, Justice at Last, Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California, Santa Clara County Wage Theft Coalition and Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative.
An Assembly committee will consider the bill later this month.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
