Field Report: Dollars & Votes
1 Aug, 2008 By: Marty Whitford LM Direct!WASHINGTON, D.C. — “It’s a matter of dollars and votes. It doesn’t really matter what the issues are,” said Norm Goldenberg, speaking July 21 at the industry issues briefing of Professional Landcare Network’s (PLANET’s) annual Legislative Day on the Hill, held July 20-22 at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington.
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Norm Goldenberg |
Money and numbers speak directly to politicians — and PLANET members need to step it up on both fronts to protect themselves, one another and our customers, said Goldenberg, senior vice president of government and regulatory affairs for ServiceMaster, parent company of TruGreen and Terminix International.
Dollars and votes are more important than ever as self-proclaimed “environmentalists” are banding together to ban more Green Industry tools and techniques through state and local legislation, Goldenberg noted.
“For example, Florida and several other Gulf Coast states and cities are using unsubstantiated so-called ‘evidence’ to wrongly claim that nutrients in fertilizers cause ‘red tide,’” Goldenberg said. (Red tide is an algal bloom associated with mortalities among marine and coastal species of fish, birds and marine mammals.) “Plenty of organizations came to our defense, including the EPA. Nevertheless, more and more cities and counties up and down the Gulf Coast are trying to limit how close to water we can spray. Heck, in Sarasota (FL), they’re even trying to limit how close to water we can mow. Together, we have to put our money and mouths to work to stop this nonsense.”
H2B fix needed — yesterday
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Laurie-Ann Flanagan |
Comprehensive immigration reform is a must, but before we try to climb that mountain, it’s imperative that Congress — that means you, too, Senate — passes an H2B working visa fix this year, underlined Laurie-Ann Flanagan, executive vice president of DC Legislative & Regulatory Services, a government relations firm.
The H2B nonimmigrant working visa allows foreign nationals to enter the U.S. temporarily and engage in nonagricultural employment that is seasonal, intermittent, a peak-load need or a one-time occurrence. But the Green Industry has found that the program’s congressionally mandated cap of 66,000 (33,000 for each half of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30) is inadequate to meet the seasonal needs of landscape contractors and service companies.
The current exemption from the cap for returning workers, who have proven they are not security risks, expired Sept. 30, 2007. Without a new extension of this provision of the law, many in the industry are unable to fulfill their clients’ needs and support their year-around American workforces, Flanagan said.
“I know it seems like every year I’m up here talking about how we’re trying to fix the H2B visa situation, but please know that not a day goes by that all of us don’t think, breathe and speak H2B and take our message to the Hill,” Flanagan said.
“We’ve come a long way,” she added. “It wasn’t too long ago that most people said, ‘H2B? What’s that?’ But clearly we have a way to go. We have to get an extension on the returning workers as soon as possible — hopefully somewhere in the FY 2009 Defense Appropriations Bill.”
In the meantime, Flanagan urged Green Industry execs to get their H2B visa applications in as soon as possible. Fiscal 2009’s first-half cap was reached in record time, July 30.
Flanagan says PLANET is all for comprehensive immigration reform, of which both presidential candidates — Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) — are strong supporters. Such an overhaul could provide a permanent H2B visa solution and clear up issues like E-Verify — to use or not to use?
Flanagan pointed out that several states require employers to use E-Verify, an Internet-based system designed to help certify that new hires are not in the country illegally. Yet Illinois and a number of subsequent states have ruled it illegal for employers to use E-Verify to check employees’ residency status: “We need to fix this and several other immigration issues impacting our industry,” she said.
“We want and need comprehensive immigration reform, too,” Flanagan added. “But some of us won’t be in business to help shape it if Congress doesn’t give us at least a one-year extension of the returning workers provision.”
Tom Delaney, PLANET’s director of government affairs, noted that H2B also affects landscape professionals who do not use the program.
“Chance are a few of your competitors used to have more H2B visa workers, so last year’s loss of the returning worker exemption likely now is making it tougher for you to recruit and retain good help,” he said.
Got water?
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Andy Smith |
“How many out there use water?” asked Andy Smith, external affairs director for the Irrigation Association (IA).
Smith’s opening line got quite a few laughs, but it also drove home the importance of recognizing, respecting and smartly protecting our evaporating water resources.
Smith said federal water policy is fragmented, and urged attendees to support H.R. 135, which would establish a nine-member panel called the 21st Century Water Commission. The Commission would be charged with assembling the vast amount of relevant water-related data, learning from the successes and failures of current water legislation, and recommending future water policy development to the president and the appropriate House and Senate committees.
Smith and meeting attendees shared some startling statistics:
- Since September 2007, Georgia has lost more than 35,000 jobs and $3.1 billion in business because of drought conditions;
- The U.S. government projects 36 states will suffer water shortages by 2013; and
- Landscape irrigation accounts for 65% of the water consumed by urban supply systems — and the federal government estimates half of this is wasted.
“Every time my irrigation system at home cycles, it uses 10,500 gallons of water, but I make sure it only cycles when it’s needed,” Smith added. “How many of you have irrigation systems at home? About 40 people, OK. Keep your hands up. Now, how many of you know how much water one cycle uses? I see just two hands still raised.
“We can and need to do better. We need to keep better score of how much water we use, where and when — as both consumers and Green Industry professionals.”
Unhealthy coverage, costs
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Tom Delaney |
Landscape contractors and service companies also are suffering from years and years of consecutive premium increases in health insurance plans while their employees’ medical coverage is dwindling, Delaney said.
PLANET supports S. 2818, the Small Business Health Plans Act of 2008 (SBHPs), which would allow small businesses and professional associations to set up pooling arrangements on a national level.
Delaney said S. 2818 would make healthcare more affordable to millions of Americans either uninsured or underinsured. S. 2818 is preferred over S. 2795, the Small Business Health Options Program Act of 2008 (SHOP) for a number of reasons — including SBHPs would require no tax changes.
“The Congressional Budget Office estimates S. 2818 would save the federal government $1.4 billion annually because it would lead to more than 1 million more small-business employees being covered by employer-sponsored healthcare plans. Now that’s what I call a win-win,” Delaney concludes.
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