July 24, 2015
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CapitalPress.com
9
Work permits for farmworkers gain traction in California
Backers see proposal
as a way to work
around lack of
progress in Congress
By ZANE SPARLING
Capital Press
In a move that signals their
frustration with federal inac-
tion on immigration reform,
California state legislators
have advanced a bill that would
grant temporary work permits
— not to foreign laborers, but
to agricultural workers living
in the U.S. illegally.
The bill, which was intro-
duced by Central Coast As-
semblyman Luis Alejo, D-Sa-
linas, would protect seasonal
farmworkers and their imme-
diate families from the threat
of deportation. Applicants
would be at least 18, have a
clean criminal record and be
required to pay a small admin-
istrative fee.
“California has everything
to gain, nothing to lose,” Alejo
said. “We’re focusing on Cali-
fornia agricultural workers be-
cause that’s where we see the
greatest need. … We estimate
50 to 70 percent of agricultural
workers are undocumented.”
The proposal does not for-
mally create a visa program,
but would instead form a
group that would “negotiate”
with the national Department
of Homeland Security and the
U.S. Department of Justice
and then issue a report to the
bill would send a message to
Congress that something has
to be done.
“Either we’re going to im-
port our workers, or we’re
going to import our food,” he
said. “(Agriculture) requires
the work of human hands,
that’s a fact of life. So we can
grow it in another country, or
we can grow it here and get the
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Immigration law experts
say the legislation has at least
the implied approval of labor
and union interests this time
around.
The United Food and Com-
mercial Workers, which rep-
resents about 4,500 unionized
farm laborers, recently sent
Alejo, the bill’s sponsor, a let-
ter of support. Other groups,
including the California La-
bor Federation and the Mexi-
can American Legal Defense
Fund, which opposed earlier
legislative efforts, have simply
stayed quiet this time around.
Sameer Ashar, who co-di-
AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka, File
rects the UC-Irvine Immigrant
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Rights Clinic, said he “highly
doubted” the federal govern-
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ment would grant California
legislature. If favorable, the Chacon said the while it was abdicated its responsibility to
Labor unions and other authority for work permits.
“A reading of the Consti-
governor would presumably unlikely the DHS would grant undertake long overdue re- immigrant advocates killed a
request authorization to grant authorization for work visas form … the efforts of Rep. 2012 state bill, arguing that a tution makes it clear that im-
work permits from the DHS to California, the language of $OHMR DQG RWKHU VWDWH RI¿FLDOV “patchwork” of state-by-state migration is a part of foreign
and DOJ through a second bill. the bill deliberately bypasses to move this debate along … ODZV ZRXOG EH LQVXI¿FLHQW policy … and the federal gov-
The legislation, known as Congress.
are commendable.”
compared with national re- ernment has been fairly consis-
AB 20, passed the assembly
“The language and struc-
AB 20 has already garnered form. Partisanship in Congress tent in arguing for federal su-
-XQH DQG QRZ DZDLWV D ¿V- ture of this bill show just how the support of the California doomed a subsequent federal premacy,” Ashar said. “But it
seems to me that states should
cal impact statement from the little faith legislators have left Citrus Mutual and the Califor- attempt at passing legislation.
state Senate Appropriations in the possibility of federal nia Farm Bureau Federation,
Bryan Little, employment be able to experiment in ways
Committee.
congressional action on immi- which have vigorously backed policy director for the Farm that don’t compromise oth-
University of California-Ir- gration,” she said in an email. similar legislative efforts on Bureau, said that after 20 years er constitutional values, like
vine Professor of Law Jennifer “Since Congress has basically both the state and national level. of political bickering, Alejo’s equality and dignity.”
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By 7,0+($5'(1
vote of approval sent the bill
to the Senate Appropriations
Committee. The legislation
SACRAMENTO — A Ca- has already received unani-
QDGLDQWUDGHRI¿FLDOLVXUJLQJ mous approval from two As-
Gov. Jerry Brown to veto a sembly committees and the
forest products bill that has so full lower chamber.
far sailed through the Legisla-
“We’ll now be focusing
ture with unanimous support. more on the governor,” Doyle
The bill by Assemblyman told the Capital Press. She said
Brian Dahle, R-Bieber, would interactions with Dahle and
require that contractors build- other lawmakers have “been
ing state road signs, guard rails very friendly and cordial. They
and other projects procure know what their role is and we
their wood from sources that know what our role is, but our
comply with California’s en- trade lawyers are vigilant on
vironmental laws when prices this kind of stuff.”
and quality are equal.
Doyle said Canada would
Cassie Doyle, the Cana- pursue legal action if the bill
dian consul general in San is signed into law, though
Francisco, said the bill sets a she didn’t specify whether it
bad precedent considering that would be in the U.S. courts or
California and Canada are par- in the WTO.
ties to the World Trade Organi-
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zation’s Government Procure- comment on legislation until it
ment Agreement, which aims reaches his desk, deputy press
to provide trading partners secretary Gareth Lacy said.
with greater access to procure-
Dahle held the bill back for
ment markets.
several weeks to try to smooth
Doyle voiced her opposi- things over with the Canadi-
tion to Dahle’s Assembly Bill ans but opted to move forward
429 during a hearing of the with the legislation with or
Senate Natural Resources and without their support.
Water committee, whose 5-0
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Capital Press
preference for wood products
harvested under the state’s
1973 Z’berg-Nejedly Forest
Practices Act, whose sweep-
ing environmental protections
included the requirement that
professional foresters submit a
timber harvest plan when log-
ging on non-federal land.
In reality, state contrac-
tors purchase very little wood
— mostly for road signs and
guard rail posts for the De-
partment of Transportation,
said Mark Pawlicki, spokes-
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tries, which supports the leg-
islation.
“The purpose for this bill
is for the Legislature to under-
stand and promote the concept
that since the industry operates
under very stringent standards,
the state should reciprocate by
purchasing the wood produced
under those standards, regard-
less of location,” Pawlicki said
last month.
While the bill doesn’t
technically require procured
wood to be from Califor-
nia, there’s no way to verify
whether forest products from
outside the state would quali-
fy, Doyle said. And while the
dollar amount that changes
hands in a given year may be
small, the bill is still seen by
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tionist, she said.
“There’s a whole body
of law around international
trade,” she said. “It doesn’t
matter how much value (is
generated) in a particular year.
Laws like this run counter to
trade deals.”
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Diamond Foods opens its
new innovation center
By ZANE SPARLING
Capital Press
SALEM — The science of
snacking was the subject as
Diamond Foods Inc. dedicated
its new corporate innovation
center at the company’s Kettle
potato chip plant in Salem.
The
7,000-square-foot
product-testing
and
re-
search-and-development lab-
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formal brand development
facility. The center, which
employs 18 people, will also
work on new products for
the company’s other lines of
snacks, nuts and popcorn.
In addition to food scien-
tists and sensory specialists,
marketing, packaging and
regulatory experts will work
there.
Innovation was the buzz-
word as Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown delivered a brief speech
at a July 15 ceremony, praising
Diamond’s commitment to the
state.
“...In this state, we make
things. Innovative, useful,
marketable — and in this case,
delicious — things,” she said.
In the consumer polling
area of the innovation center,
the governor issued a ringing
endorsement of the company’s
Emerald Nuts brand raspber-
ry-glazed almonds — “Can
we eat the rest of them?” she
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asked — before donning a hair
net and touring the center’s
prototype kitchen.
In the “nosh pitch,” a cre-
atively named conference
room, employees exhibited
the peppers and kimchi that
became the inspiration for
Kettle’s new pepperoncini-fa-
vored chips.
“We don’t adulterate the
base (potato chip). Everything
you taste is from the seasoning
that we put on after,” food sci-
entist Rebecca Andersen said.
Andersen said the compa-
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vors — including such candi-
dates as churro and strawberry
cream — for every successful
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Closing out the tour, the
governor pondered the region-
al differences in tastes.
“My family members tend
to like — I will describe it
as blander things. Midwest
foods,” she said.
Diamond Foods, which
acquired microwave popcorn
brand Pop Secret in 2008, be-
came a publicly traded com-
pany in 2005. Its other lines
include Emerald brand snack
nuts and Diamond of Califor-
nia culinary nuts.
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