FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
National Federation of Independent Business/California
Contact: Shawn Lewis (916) 342-9315; [email protected]
NFIB Reacts to Senate Passing Agriculture Overtime Mandate
AB 1066 (Gonzalez) would have devastating consequences for small farmers
SACRAMENTO, Calif., August 22, 2016 – With the California State Senate passing Assembly Bill 1066 (Gonzalez) today, NFIB California State Executive Director Tom Scott issued the following statement on behalf of our 22,000 small business members:
“One out of eleven farmers in California is an NFIB member, and they are telling us this bill will have a devastating impact on their small, independent farms and farmworkers. This is why this legislation was defeated earlier this year. This freshly gutted-and-amended version does nothing to alleviate the serious concerns of our farmers across the state.
“California is already one of only a few states that require any overtime pay for agricultural workers, and our requirement for daily overtime is already the most expensive. Our members and industry experts estimate AB 1066 will ultimately hurt the agricultural economy and its workers by resulting in $4,500 in reduced annual income per farmworker; $5.4 billion loss in crop production; and a total of 78,000 lost jobs.
“This bad bill died earlier this year for a reason. NFIB is frustrated to see bad public policy revived in the final days of the legislative session just because one legislator wants a political victory. We will be urging members of the State Assembly to reject this bill to protect our small, independent farmers and their workers from additional unnecessary mandates.”
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB has 350,000 dues-paying members nationally, with over 22,000 in California. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. To learn more visit www.NFIB.com/california
