Industry Info
Congress Delivers H-2B Visa “Cap Relief,”
ELD Flexibility in Omnibus Bill
Shortly after
12:30 am, on
Friday, March 23,
Congress approved
a massive $1.3
trillion omnibus
spending bill for
Fiscal Year (FY)
2018 to fund federal government
operations through September 30.
The 2,232 page bill includes several
regulatory measures that will pro-
vide flexibility for the horse industry,
most notably H-2B visa cap relief for
seasonal, guest workers and a tem-
porary enforcement exemption for
the transportation of livestock from
the Electronic Logging Device (ELD)
regulations. The legislation also in-
cludes policy “riders” to defund De-
partment of Agriculture (USDA) and
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) programs that will impact the
equine sector and broader agriculture
economy.
Because of the fast approaching
seasonal labor needs for breeding
farms, race tracks, and other seasonal
employers, AHC and its partners are
urging DHS to implement the flexi-
bility measures as quickly as possible
to mitigate paperwork bottlenecks
during the remainder of the year.
Other key H-2B provisions include
acceptance of private wage surveys to
determine “prevailing wage” require-
ments, and language that defines
“seasonal need” as a 10-month period
within the context of the program.
The coalition has already begun to
focus efforts on creating permanent
cap relief in future legislative vehicles.
This would decouple the H-2B visa
issue from the annual appropriations
process and create an environment of
investment certainty.
Congress Delays ELD Enforcement
for Livestock to September 30:
On the heels of the DOT’s March
13 issuance of an additional 90-day
Lawmakers Raise the Ceiling on
exemption from ELD enforcement
H-2B Guest-Worker Visas:
requirements for livestock, the bill in-
Despite opposition from a large
cludes a provision that would defund
number of lawmakers from both po- enforcement to at least September
litical parties, the horse industry and 30, which is the official end of the
its allies persuaded Congress to effec- fiscal year. The delay will provide
tively raise the Department of Home- DOT and industry stakeholders more
land Security (DHS) cap on H-2B
time to educate livestock haulers on
temporary worker visas from the
the proper scope of the ELD man-
current cap of 66,000 to 129,500 visas date, which has caused uncertainty
for FY2018. A provision tying the
since being finalized in late 2015.
number of H-2B visas to a number
Furthermore, industry’s September
not to exceed the maximum number 2017 request to push back the com-
of participants from the returning
pliance deadline by a full year is still
worker program in a previous year
outstanding, leaving the possibility
has effectively doubled the number
of another enforcement delay for
of visas the agency may issue in 2018. livestock.
8 • Walking On
Lawmakers Fully Fund Tax Law
Implementation, Defund Horse
Slaughter Inspections, EPA Ag Emis-
sion and Reporting Rules:
In a rare move to increase resourc-
es for the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS), Congress appropriated an
additional $320 million through
September 2019 for the nation’s tax
collectors to help assure a smooth
implementation of the 2017 tax
law. The omnibus also includes a
rider that bans funding of USDA
personnel to inspect horses prior to
slaughter, a provision which lawmak-
ers have renewed within multiple
spending bills during previous years
to effectively shut down horse slaugh-
ter in the U.S. On the EPA front, the
bill also defunds enforcement of rules
that would do the following:
• Mandate the reporting of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-
sions from decomposing animal
waste located on farms;
• And reporting air emissions
from farms resulting from haz-
ardous substances, pursuant to
the nation’s Superfund law.
AHC will deliver updates on more
details within the 2018 omnibus
spending package that impact the
horse industry as they emerge. To
view a copy of the 2232 page bill,
please click here: http://docs.house.
gov/billsthisweek/20180319/BILLS-
115SAHR1625-RCP115-66.pdf. If
you have questions about FY2018
appropriations, please contact Bryan
Brendle, Director of Policy and Leg-
islative Affairs, at bbrendle@horsec-
ouncil.org.