A proposal to ease agricultural overtime rules after a UC Berkeley study found farmworkers have been earning and working less is likely dead for the year after failing in committee.
During a policy hearing on Assembly Bill 3056 last week, Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher had a difficult time convincing his Democratic colleagues that a problem exists. The Sacramento Valley lawmaker described himself as one of the few legislators with an agricultural perspective and explained the industry’s abnormal workweek, which has long hours during planting and harvest seasons and less work in the offseason.
He said growers face increased costs for inputs and supplies due to regulations and inflation but can't raise prices to cover expenses. A downturn in commodity prices has also led to less revenue for paying workers, he said.
Gallagher said the farmworker study did not account for inflation or the increases to minimum wage over the last two years, meaning the estimated losses of 45,000 work hours and $9 million in pay are likely on the conservative side.
Asm. Liz Ortega, D-HaywardPhilip Russell, president of the California State Beekeepers Association, hoped to testify at the hearing in support of Gallagher's bill but said he was unable to pay for the overtime and additional hours for an employee to cover his work. In a statement to the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, Russell said the overtime law has forced him to cut hours for his more experienced beekeepers and hire lower-wage workers with less expertise, resulting in more bee deaths and fewer pollinators for crops like almonds. To avoid potential overtime costs for driving back and forth, the workers spend more time at job sites and less with their families.
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When an employee asked Russell for a raise recently, he said the worker had actually been gaining higher pay over the last three years. But the drop in hours led to the same amount on his paychecks.
“As a small business owner, I care deeply about my employees and their well-being and that has been impacted by these new regulations,” said Russell.
That sentiment is felt across the industry, as shown by a broad array of agricultural groups registering support for AB 3056.
United Farm Workers, however, stood in opposition. UFW has gained influence in the Capitol after joining forces with the California Labor Federation in 2022 to persuade the governor and lawmakers to enact a controversial system that eased the rules for union elections, known as card check.
UFW advocate Lourdes Cardenas pointed to a competing fact sheet recently posted by UC Merced labor researchers indicating that workers who have continued to earn overtime pay have seen their earnings rise more than 30% since 2017. The average earnings for those who worked less than 40 hours a week have increased as well.
That led Democratic lawmakers to voice skepticism over the UC Berkeley publication.
“I do believe that some of the policies that we move forward that create equity within the workplace are needed and necessary,” said Asm. Wendy Carrillo of Los Angeles. “But I do want to say that I—as a member who does not come from ag counties across the state—would really like to learn more and know more about some of the challenges that you face.”
Asm. Alex Lee of San Jose argued that even making $30,000, which was at the higher end of the UC Merced estimates, is not enough “to survive in the state of California.”
Committee Chair Liz Ortega dismissed the UC Berkeley research as well, reasoning that two years of data does not account for 78 years of workers not having access to overtime pay.
Republican Asm. Heath Flora of Ripon, who, like Gallagher, hails from an agricultural family, countered that those arguments may apply well in an urban setting, but “in the rural communities, things are just different for us.” He stressed the challenges with maintaining a workforce when commodity prices are low.
“It's not that we don't want to pay them as much as we possibly can,” said Flora. “But if the growers, the farmers, aren't surviving, then everybody's out.”
Gallagher had lowered his expectations for the bill and told the committee he hoped it would at least open a conversation on the topic and perhaps leads to a select committee to examine the issue in more detail.
“This is a frustration common among California farmers,” he said. “We meet all the health and safety standards and yet we'll import stuff from Chile or other parts of the world that don't do any of those things.”
The committee voted down the measure along party lines but offered to consider it again in a later hearing.
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