As Sam prepared me for the visit he said something like this, in his deep Georgia draw; “Now son, you listen to what I am about to tell ya…..Making laws is like making sausage, it’s ugly and messy, and most people only see the finished product, but we are about to go see firsthand how sausage gets made.” That was my first experience advocating for the green industry, and since then, I have had the privilege of visiting our state capitol and our nation’s capitol on multiple occasions.
Today, I was back in Washington DC participating in our beloved democracy as an industry advocate, speaking out about the need to permanently extend cap relief for the hashtag#h2b guest worker visa program. At Bland Landscaping Company we have used this program for thirty years to bring in documented guest workers for our 9 month peak production season. It is highly effective for our business, a tremendous opportunity for our seasonal guest workers, and it is a beautiful alternative to undocumented seasonal workers. The challenge is that the arbitrary cap of 66,000 workers that was set 50 years ago is outdated and based on certified statements of need approved by DOL, the 2025 demand is for nearly 220,000 people. The decade long cycle of last minute cap relief tied to appropriations bills leaves sponsors and participants alike in an unpredictable lottery that denies some employers their desperately needed seasonal workers, while others get lucky and get approved. It is a mess, but it is relatively easy to fix through the reinstatement of the H2B/R Returning Worker Exemption that was first adopted during the Bush administration and curtailed in 2016.
This visit reminded me of a few important things:
- Advocacy takes effort and our industry is fortunate to have Andrew Bray and the team at National Association of Landscape Professionals working on our behalf.
- Democracy only works when we participate. Being in meetings with staffers and sharing firsthand experiences makes a difference.
- Together we stand, divided we fall. Today was a team effort between peers and competitors alike. When we speak as a group our voice is more clearly heard and everyone who uses this program shares a common interest of improving upon it.
Big thanks to Nate Negrin for being my fellow North Carolina Constituency member and partner in advocacy. Nate and I met at the NC Legislature a couple of months ago, and teamed up in DC the last twenty four hours to share the story of our industry and the importance of the H2B guest worker visa program for businesses of all sizes in the green industry.
“Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” — Churchill
—Kurt Bland, CEO