“O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done …” is one of the most famous elegies ever written. Elegies are poems often written about people who have died but they may also be written to mourn the loss of a thing or evoke a feeling of loss.

An elegy seems appropriate for the end of the 2024 legislative session when a few good bills died and, with them, good ideas for the betterment of the agricultural community.

Senate Bill 5476

When the requirement to pay overtime was passed in our state three years ago, many in the agricultural community expressed concern about the effect it would have on farmworker income. During this year’s legislative session, farmworkers rallied on the steps of the state capitol asking for flexibility in the overtime law. Senate Bill 5476 would have provided the flexibility farmworkers were asking for.

The bill allowed for 12-weeks during which the overtime pay threshold would be lifted from its current 40-hour limit to 55 hours. This would give employers relief from time-and-a-half pay requirements and provide farmworkers an opportunity to earn more money. The current 40-hour overtime pay threshold depressed wages for many farmworkers as employers are forced to limit work weeks to 40 hours.

During testimony on the bill, proponents noted labor cost increases now accounted for up to 90 percent of operating expenses, pushing some people to stop farming. The decision to stop farming displaces farmworkers and their families as well as forcing them to look for work elsewhere.

Despite having a hearing in both 2023 and 2024, the bill died in committee.

House Bill 2226

Another year brought another attack on the H-2A farmworker visa program. Washington state is the temporary home to an average of 30,000 guest workers who arrive from around the world to work agriculture. House Bill 2226 will make the program more complex and more difficult for the agricultural community to participate in.

The bill requires the Washington State Employment Security Department to conduct parallel annual wage surveys – one administered to employers and a new one administered directly with farmworkers – to determine if agricultural employers are telling the truth about wages paid on their farms. Proponents of the bill testified they hoped to determine whether local wages were being “depressed” by the presence of H-2A workers in our state.

Under federal rules, H-2A wages are required to be significantly higher than a state’s hourly wage specifically to avoid a depression of local wages. The Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) for Washington state for 2024 is set at $19.25/hr., a sharp contrast to the $16.28/hr. local minimum wage. The bill also requires the farmworker survey to duplicate the collection of data already gathered from employers including the location of farmworker housing, demographic information, country of residency, and more. 

This duplication of data collection will cost Washington taxpayers $25 per farmworker in incentive payments as well as the cost of survey administration and processing. The bill was passed on a party line vote in both the House and Senate.

Other bills of note

Before finishing our elegy to this legislative session, there are a few more bills to remember.

The passage of House Bill 2424 took a positive step toward better gray wolf management in Northeastern Washington by bringing together tribal and state governments in a cooperative agreement. Under the “North Half” bill, the Colville Tribe and state agencies will work together to monitor gray wolf management practices to better determine what works and what doesn’t for both predator and prey species. Other gray wolf management bills did not fare as well this session but highlighted the need for continued discussion of the topic.

Pollinators are critical to the success of any agricultural pursuit. Senate Bill 5972 set out to, purportedly, keep our pollinators safe by proposing a broad ban on neonicotinoid-based pesticides. After some lengthy discussions and revisions to the bill that preserved the ability of commercial farmers to use the pesticide class when and where needed, the bill passed both the House and Senate.

Not all good ideas had their day on the hill this session. House Bill 1936, a bill to provide tax incentives to farmers participating in conservation programs, and House Bill 2187, a bill to protect irrigation water access for family farms, both died in committee.

The end of the legislative session is often bittersweet. A remembrance of battles won and lost and a reminder of battles yet to be faced. This legislative session served to highlight the vast and varied needs of the agricultural community in what was passed and, perhaps more tellingly, in what died.

Overtime flexibility, access to water, relief from predators, tax incentives for conservation program participation are all goals to make agriculture – and Washington state – a better place to live and grow food. It is time we began addressing those needs both legislatively and otherwise.