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A reworked version of a workers' compensation proposal has been put into bill form and is being circulated around the state capital. The "tentative draft SB 863" proposal as it's being called appears to be intended for insertion into Senate Bill 863, a piece of legislation regarding workers' comp liens authored by Senator Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, that was taken off the active file.

The proposal will attempt to fulfill the the need for roughly $700 million in additional permanent disability benefits for injured workers, and $1.4 billion in system wide savings. The savings would come from, among other things, scaling back considerations of future earning capacity in setting disability benefits and eliminating certain medical conditions as factors.

The UFW has amended one of its two heat illness bills, AB 2346 (Butler, D-Torrance), to remove provisions that would make the state's heat illness law unworkable.  Among the deleted provisions were requirements that agricultural employers ensure that water no warmer than 70 degrees be within 10 feet of each worker at all times and a similar requirement that shade be within 200 feet of each worker.  

However, the bill continues to expose farmers and farm labor contractors (FLCs) to private lawsuits for alleged violations of the heat illness rules, and makes farmers jointly liable for farm labor contractors' violations.  In an attempt to create the illusion of a limitation on exposure to private lawsuits and joint liability, the UFW's amendments target "repeat offenders," defined as any agricultural employer who has violated the heat illness standard on two days within a three year period.  

That definition does not distinguish between paperwork violations and serious violations, nor does it limit the "scarlet letter" to only the three prior years.  Example: A grower contracts with an FLC.  The FLC was cited 12 years earlier for a minor violation of the standard, and again the following year for another minor violation.  Even though the FLC has not had any violations for a decade, he is a repeat offender forever, and the grower retaining him, even 10 years later, would be jointly liable in both private litigation and administrative action by state regulators for any new alleged violation.  Worse, the violations could be merely alleged, and if proven in the private litigation, repeat offender status (and joint liability) would be attached to that farmer or FLC.  

The Association and industry allies are working closely with key Democratic Senators to block AB 2346 from passing when it is considered by the full Senate next week.  All members are urged to contact their Senators and urge their opposition to this bill.    

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A second heat illness bill sponsored by the UFW, AB 2676 (Calderon, D-Whittier), would allow district attorneys to charge an agricultural employer with a misdemeanor for failing to provide water and shade as required by the existing state heat illness regulations.  That bill, which is also strongly opposed by agriculture organizations, is awaiting a final procedural vote in the Assembly before it advances to the Governor.     

This week EPA published the prepublication version of its Federal Register notice announcing its intent to take public comment for 30 days on the petitions from the governors of North Carolina, Arkansas, Delaware and Maryland for EPA to formally waive the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for ethanol. The petition contends that the industry takes more than 40% of available corn supplies while the country faces the worst corn crop in nearly a decade. However, President Obama and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney have stayed generally silent on the issue lest they offend either side of the biofuels battle. They remain silent despite calls from 150 House members and 26 Senators from both sides of the aisle for EPA to waive the ethanol RFS. Romney, in an energy policy paper released this week, said he supports the concept of the RFS, but doesn't elaborate on the waiver issue. In addition to the governors' petitions and congressional pressure, ActionAid USA, Oxfam America and Jose Graziano da Silva, director-general of the United National Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) have issued calls for an RFS waiver.  

The EPA notice asks for input on whether the current RFS is causing regional or state economic harm and/or how it affects the price of corn, feed, food and/or ethanol. The agency, however, also wants data supporting the notion that waiving the RFS will solve the supply/price problems alleged by the livestock, feed, food and processing industries. More governors are expected to join the list of those requesting an RFS waiver, and still pending is EPA's decision on how to handle an administrative petition from nearly two dozen livestock/poultry/feed/processing industry groups asking for the same RFS relief. Dwindling corn supplies were documented by the USDA crop report issued August 10, which predicted a corn crop of 10.8 billion bushels, with a yield of 123.4 bushels per acre, down more than 22 bushels since last month's report. Corn stocks will be about 533 million bushels less than previous estimates, USDA said, with carryover of corn for 2012-2013 seen at 650 million bushels - 5.8% of total use - the smallest corn carryover since 1995-96. The notion of waiving the RFS - a legislated mandate on how much ethanol must be blended with gasoline to reduce the amount of diesel used - is a political hot potato for the Administration.  

Industry argues that the RFS ethanol mandate arbitrarily creates an ethanol market that competes directly with food and feed uses of corn, driving corn prices to record levels in recent weeks and resulting in dramatically higher livestock and poultry feed prices. The ethanol industry counters that the RFS is needed because it allowed ethanol to become a "mature industry" and that waiving the RFS will do little to affect corn availability or prices since ethanol producers contend they use only 16% of the crop, not the 40% estimated by industry. One ethanol company called the petitions for an RFS waiver the equivalent of a "domestic grain embargo, benefitting large corporate food companies by lining their pockets at the expense of the family farmer and our nation's pursuit of energy independence."

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2012 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today made a series of announcements that continue to underscore the Obama Administration's ongoing work to help farmers, ranchers and businesses impacted by the most severe drought in 50 years. The Secretary said the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) intends to file special provisions with the federal crop insurance program to allow haying or grazing of cover crops without impacting the insurability of planted 2013 spring crops, a move that can help provide much needed forage and feed this fall and winter for livestock producers. In a separate step, Vilsack will modify emergency loans, allowing loans to be made earlier in the season helping livestock producers to offset increased feed costs and those who have liquidated herds.

"At the direction of the President, USDA continues to work as swiftly as possible to get help to America's farmers and ranchers by providing flexibility within existing programs, particularly those that assist livestock producers," said Vilsack. "In the weeks ahead, the Obama Administration will continue to stand with and support our farmers, ranchers and business as they recover from this drought. Still, it is important that Congress pass a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill as soon as possible, to give USDA more tools to help and to give more certainty to producers in this difficult time."

Earlier today, Vilsack also designated 33 additional counties in 8 states as natural disaster areas-23 counties due to drought. In the past six weeks, USDA has designated 1,821 counties in 35 states as disaster areas-1,692 due to drought-while USDA officials have fanned out to more than a dozen drought-affected states as part of a total U.S. government effort to offer support and assistance to those impacted by the drought.

The changes announced today by Secretary Vilsack will benefit America's livestock and crop producers alike by improving procedures and lessening requirements during a time of disaster. For the 2013 crop year, USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA)-which manages and operates the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation-intends to file special provisions statements to allow haying or grazing of cover crops without impacting the insurability of planted 2013 spring crops. This flexibility will help farmers, if they choose, plant a cover crop without risking crop insurance coverage in 2013, providing much needed forage and feed this fall and winter.

Late last week the Mitt Romney campaign named the leadership and membership of Farmers and Ranchers for Romney. The six national chairs are Florida Ag Commissioner Adam Putnam; Western Growers President Tom Nassif; Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey; Kentucky Ag Commissioner James Comer; Sen. Mike Johanns (R, NE), and National Council of Farmer Cooperatives President Chuck Conner. For a full list of national co-chairs and the full advisory committee roster, go to www.mittromney.com, and search the press release list.

Laws in Georgia and Alabama allowing law enforcement officers to seek proof of citizenship when checking backgrounds on criminal suspects were upheld in part by a federal appeals court this week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th District in Atlanta decision paralleled that of the U.S. Supreme Court in its review of Arizona's "show me your papers" law. As in the Arizona high court review, the appeals court continued to block other parts of the two states' laws, including a provision that would allow schools to check the immigration status of children upon enrollment and sections requiring all immigrants to carry a registration document at all times. Officials of both states said the heart of their state laws was upheld, namely the ability of law enforcement to check on immigration status for criminal suspects, but opponents continue to argue the laws are akin to racial profiling.

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