Governor Denies Ag Worker Housing Changes Pt 1

I’m Bob Larson. On Monday, Governor Jay Inslee turned down a request from the Washington Farm Bureau and WAFLA to drop the emergency rules for housing farmworkers across the state.

Farm Bureau CEO John Stuhlmiller says the numbers don’t support his decision …

STUHLMILLER … “As we talked, the statistics showed that ag has been better than the average in population and producers are working hard at keeping folks safe and they’ve been delivering well. Plus, we have the high vaccination rate. So, you don’t get rewarded for having a safer workplace.”

And for the ag employers, Stuhlmiller says it seems personal …

STUHLMILLER … “Terribly confusing, and frankly it’s not being applied in a fair manner either. So, they’re targeting the temporary worker housing, which has a lot of H-2A in it. And so, you know, is it to target that program? I don’t know, it sure seems that way. And, at a minimum it gums up how ag is trying to harvest that food that we all like to eat.”

The emergency rules, Stuhlmiller says are outdated for a largely outdoor industry …

STUHLMILLER … “So, you really hope that an administrative agency listens and responds fairly, and what we’re not getting is a fair response, in my opinion, we send a letter in and the answer to the letter is, stop asking questions and just do what we say.”

Tune in tomorrow for more on the governor’s decision and the possible political motivation behind it.