Friday, February 26, 2021
CapitalPress.com 5
Washington Senate committee
drops anti-H-2A provision
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — The Senate Ways and
Means Committee on Monday killed a pro-
posal that would have penalized Washington
farmers who hired foreign workers, passing
instead a bill to encourage better housing for
all farmworkers.
Since 1996, the state has exempted the
builders of farmworker housing from pay-
ing sales tax on construction materials.
Senate Bill 5396 proposes to expand
the tax break to housing developments in
which at least half the units are occupied by
farmworkers.
The bill would also allow owners of sea-
sonal farmworker housing to rent units to
non-farmworkers during the off-season and
still claim the tax exemption.
As introduced by Sen. Liz Lovelett,
D-Anacortes, the bill proposed eliminat-
ing the tax break if any beds were filled by
workers on H-2A visas, who are usually
from Mexico.
Farm groups said the bill would make
building housing for U.S. farmworkers more
expensive because H-2A workers aren’t seg-
regated in separate housing.
Farm groups also said the proposal dis-
criminated against workers based on their
immigration status.
The Ways and Means Committee adopted
a substitute measure sponsored by Moses
Lake Sen. Judy Warnick, the top-rank-
ing Republican on the Senate agriculture
committee.
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
Capital Press File
Washington Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Mo-
ses Lake, sponsored a substitute bill
Feb. 22 that retains and expands a tax
exemption for building and repairing
farmworker housing.
Warnick’s measure prohibits tax breaks
for housing built “exclusively” for foreign
workers.
Farm groups said their members can’t
legally build housing exclusively for foreign
workers anyway.
By law, farms must hire U.S. workers
first and only then fill vacant positions —
and beds — with foreign workers.
Washington farm settles
civil rights complaint
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A Walla Walla County
blueberry farm has agreed
to pay $350,000 to settle
claims that it failed to stop
a supervisor from sexu-
ally harassing and assault-
ing female farmworkers, the
Washington Attorney Gen-
eral’s Office said Monday.
Attorney General Bob
Ferguson alleged Great
Columbia Berry Farms
knew or should have known
about misconduct by Jose
Luis Contreras Ramirez
between 2012 and 2019.
Ramirez was arrested
Oct. 7, 2019, by the Walla
Walla County Sheriff’s
Office and charged with
two counts of second-de-
gree rape. He pleaded guilty
on Nov. 2, 2020, to three
counts of felony assault and
was sentenced to 179 days
in jail, according to court
records.
Ramirez has not worked
at the farm since 2019 and
is barred from being rehired,
according to Great Colum-
bia’s agreement with the
attorney general.
The attorney general
alleges Great Columbia
violated the federal Civil
Rights Act of 1964 and the
Washington Law Against
Discrimination, failing to
intervene and protect female
farmworkers.
In a consent decree filed
Vilsack confirmed as
agriculture secretary
Monday in Walla Walla
Superior
Court,
Great
Columbia denied all allega-
tions made by the attorney
general and stated that it will
not tolerate sexual harass-
ment in the workplace.
Great Columbia has
always taken discrimination
and harassment issues seri-
ously and strived to be a safe
workplace, Great Columbia
President and CEO Steve
Erickson said in a statement
Tuesday.
“We were disturbed and
shocked when we learned
from law enforcement that
an employee engaged in
criminal conduct and the
employee was dismissed,”
he said. “Great Columbia
chose to enter into the con-
sent decree to resolve issues
with the victim of the crime
and move forward with-
out engaging in adversarial
litigation.”
Great Columbia must
adopt policies and train-
ing approved by the attor-
ney general’s office to pre-
vent sexual harassment and
provide phones for employ-
ees to immediately report
harassment, discrimination
or retaliation, according to
the consent decree.
Ramirez was 44 years
old and lived in Pasco at the
time of his arrest in 2019,
the Walla Walla Union-Bul-
letin reported.
The Northwest Justice
Project referred other allega-
tions of misconduct involv-
ing several more woman to
the attorney general’s office.
Ramirez had the author-
ity to hire and fire, and
assign work, according to
the attorney general’s office.
“Companies that know or
should know that powerful
managers are harassing and
assaulting their employees
but do nothing to stop it bear
responsibility,”
Ferguson
said in a statement. “Agri-
cultural workers deserve to
be heard, and they deserve a
safe work environment free
from abuse.”
Great Columbia is a
136-acre farm in Burbank,
according to court records.
The $350,000 settlement
will compensate several
women and cover attorney
fees of the state and North-
west Justice Project, accord-
ing to the consent decree. A
spokeswoman for the attor-
ney general’s office said
Tuesday the entire settle-
ment will be distributed to
the women.
At least four women
were affected by Ramirez’s
misconduct, according to
the attorney general’s office.
A complaint filed by the
attorney general’s office
against the farm alleges
Ramirez groped female
employees, made unwel-
come sexual advances and
on at least two occasions
sexually assaulted a female
employee.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Senate on
Tuesday confirmed Tom Vilsack to lead the
USDA for a second time.
Vilsack, 70, will be the 32nd agriculture
secretary. He previously served eight years in
the same role in the Obama administration.
He is the former governor of Iowa and
has lately been president of the U.S. Dairy
Export Council, a dairy trade and lobbying
group.
This confirmation puts him in office two
months earlier than his predecessor, Sonny
Perdue, who was confirmed April 24, 2017.
But it’s a month later than Vilsack was con-
firmed the first time around, on Inauguration
Day in 2009.
Once Vilsack is sworn in, policymakers
say the agency’s pandemic relief efforts and
other agriculture-related policies can kick
into high gear.
“American farmers, families and rural
communities need strong, effective lead-
ership now more than ever,” Agriculture
Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow,
D-Mich., said in her opening remarks during
the Senate confirmation hearing.
She praised Vilsack’s deep understanding
of rural America and said she expects he will
lead USDA well.
In his confirmation hearing, Vilsack
fielded questions on trade policy, the
COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity and
climate change. But because the incom-
ing ag secretary had already faced hours
of questioning earlier in the month in the
committee, the questioning Tuesday was
brief.
Many farm groups and industry leaders
nationwide welcomed Vilsack back.
“(The American Farm Bureau Federa-
tion) congratulates Tom Vilsack on his con-
firmation as the next secretary of agricul-
ture,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a
statement Tuesday. “His strong track record
of leadership and previous experience at
USDA will serve rural America well.”
Duvall said he and Vilsack have spoken
“several times in recent weeks” about the
opportunities and challenges facing Ameri-
can farmers, and he looks forward to work-
Tom Vilsack
ing with the returning secretary.
Similarly, Dave Puglia, president and
CEO of the Western Growers Associa-
tion, a group representing produce and tree
nut growers, warmly welcomed Vilsack’s
leadership.
“We are pleased the Senate has confirmed
Tom Vilsack as secretary. Our work with
him during his previous service as secretary
yielded positive policy actions for the fresh
produce industry,” he said in a statement.
Other groups, including some environ-
mental advocacy groups, sustainable agri-
culture organizations and groups represent-
ing minorities, have criticized Vilsack.
“In his previous stint at USDA, Vil-
sack backed mass corporate consolidation
of our food system at the expense of strug-
gling farmers,” Wenonah Hauter, direc-
tor of environmental organization Food
and Water Watch, said in a statement Tues-
day. “Similarly, he readily advanced indus-
try-driven initiatives allowing companies to
inspect their own poultry processing plants,
dismantling federal oversight of food and
worker safety.”
In his committee hearing Feb. 2, Vilsack
told senators his four priorities when lead-
ing USDA this time will be climate change,
food insecurity, competition and inequity.
He said at the time that he plans to create
voluntary, incentive-based carbon markets
for farmers, invest in regional food systems,
maintain strong crop insurance programs,
strengthen wood product markets, bolster
meat labeling standards and help disadvan-
taged farmers.
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