Farm bill passes Senate Labor, moving to Codes

The Senate Labor Committee has just moved the ammended version of the Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act to the Codes Committee by a vote of 13-3.

The nay votes were Sens. Roy J. McDonald, R-Wilton; Sen. Martin Malavé Dilan, D-Brooklyn, and Sens. Vincent L. Leibell, R-Patterson.

Four voted 'aye without recommendation,' which is a way for a legislator to help a bill get to the next committee without supporting it. Those were Sens. William Stachowski, D-Buffalo; James S. Alesi, R-Perinton; Charles J. Fuschillo Jr., R-Merrick; and Thomas P. Morahan, R-New City.

The bill would require overtime to be paid to any farmhand who works more than 10 hours in a day, or 60 hours in a week. The weekly limit would drop to 55 hours in 2013. There is currently no overtime provision in law.

It would also allow collective bargaining for workers at farms whose gross sales exceed $650,000, which is 4 percent of all farms statewide.

It would also require farms to pay unemployment tax if it paid more than $6,250 in wages in any calendar quarter to workers.

State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, is opposed to the bill, as is the New York Farm Bureau, on the grounds that it would negatively impact dairy farms. Its advocates include Justice for Farmworkers, a statewide coalition of churches, labor interests and student groups and Sens. John Sampson and Pedro Espada.

UPDATE: Mr. Aubertine is unmoved by the action today.

“The committee vote today is nothing more than a committee vote, which is just one step in the process. It does not change the fact that I will continue working with my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, to ensure that we account for the impact this legislation will have on our family farms, our agricultural industries, and our state’s finances.

“We need to better assess that impact and be sure that every member in the Senate before voting has the facts regarding the effect of this bill on our economy, the potentially devastating unintended consequences for farm workers, and the expansive changes it would impose on New York’s family farms. Because this bill applies a wide range of new, potentially onerous and costly mandates to our farms at a time when agriculture is facing severe pressure, I am working to see that this bill is brought to the agriculture committee for further consideration and study.”

Before the vote, Mr. Maziarz asked for the bill to be referred to the Agriculture Committee, which Mr. Aubertine chairs. But Chairman George Onorato, D-Queens, denied the motion without a vote.

Alyssa Talanker, counsel to the Labor Committee, said the bill did not ammend any Agriculture & Markets Law, so the referral could not be authorized.

Mr. Maziarz argued that, besides the obvious impact to state agriculture, the bill did impact those working at the state Agriculture & Markets. For example, the bill proposes a new advisory committee on agriculture collective bargaining that includes the commissioner.

The senator's request was still denied.