Help Pass the Save Small and Seasonal Businesses Act

The fly-in is not your only chance to contact your senators and representatives. Many will be in their home states during the August recess, and it is important to use this time to remind them of the importance of H-2B labor to your business.

The H-2B program allows you to hire foreign workers for temporary, seasonal, non-agricultural work. Only 66,000 workers–33,000 for each half of the year–can receive initial H-2B status during each government fiscal year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30). Recently returning workers are exempt, but this exemption will expire September 30, 2007. Whether or not your visa petition for 2008 is approved, the absence of a Returning Worker Exemption would mean that none of your H-2B workers could return in 2009.

The Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2007:

• Will extend the H-2B Returning Worker Exemption (five-year exemption in the Senate bill; complete exemption in the House bill). This exemption is due to expire September 30, 2007.
• Does not change the H-2B program.
• Is sponsored by Senator Mikulski and Representatives Stupak, Musgrave, and Gilchrest.

Talking points:

• H-2B workers don’t take jobs away from Americans. They are employed because there are not enough Americans willing to take temporary, seasonal jobs.
• H-2B workers are employed legally and return home when their visas expire.
• Year-round, permanent jobs depend on the availability of this labor during the peak busy season. If Congress does not fix the H-2B program, permanent American jobs will be lost.

For more information:
www.savesmallbusiness.org
www.landscapemanagement.net/landscape
www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/h-2b.cfm