AG Act
Latest action. Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 506.
Agricultural Guestworker Act or the AG Act - (Sec. 2) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish an H-2C nonimmigrant visa for an alien having a residence in a foreign country which he or she has no intention of abandoning and who is coming temporarily to the United States to perform agricultural labor or services, including those related to fish or shellfish industries.
(Sec. 3) Requires an employer, or an association acting as an agent or joint employer for its members, to file an H-2C petition with the Department of Agriculture which shall include specified attestations concerning the temporary work or services, benefits, wages, working conditions, and the nondisplacement of U.S. workers.
Requires the employer as a prerequisite to: (1) have conducted adequate recruitment in the area of intended employment before filing the attestations, (2) been unsuccessful in locating a qualified U.S. worker for the job opportunity for which the H-2C worker is sought, but (3) agree to offer the job to any eligible qualified U.S. worker who applies and will be available before the first day the work begins for the H-2C worker.
Prescribes requirements for consideration of petitions and the treatment of associations acting as employers. Requires each individual employer and each employer-member of a joint employer association to pay, for each approved petition, a fee of $100 plus $10 for each approved H-2C worker (not to exceed $1,000). Prohibits the charging of a separate fee to a joint employer association. Sets forth further requirements regarding: (1) investigations, random audits, and penalties; (2) failure to pay wages and benefits or provide attested working conditions; (3) maximum periods of admission (18 months for temporary or seasonal employment or in certain other cases 36 months) and extensions of stay; and (4) abandonment of employment and worker replacement.
Requires an employer to guarantee to offer either a U.S. worker or an H-2C worker employment for the hourly equivalent of at least 50% of the work hours during the total anticipated period of employment.
The summary continues for 13 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House amended, Part I" stage on December 12, 2014. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on December 12, 2014: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 506.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
ROBERT GOODLATTE (R-VA) introduced it on April 26, 2013, and 10 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 26, 2013, 4885 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4290 days ago, on December 12, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers