Bill Aims to Ease Financial Pressures on Ag Businesses

Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) introduced SB 628 to create a tax credit that would help agricultural employers offset the additional costs of overtime wages. The bill, co-sponsored by the California Association of Winegrape Growers and the California Farm Bureau, aims to ease the financial pressures on agricultural businesses while increasing overtime opportunities for farmworkers. Under SB 628, a payroll tax credit would be established to cover the gap between an employee’s regular pay and their overtime rate, thereby boosting take-home earnings for farmworkers and promoting financial stability in rural California.

Senator Grove argued that current overtime mandates limit available work hours for farmworkers and complicate market delivery for growers. Critics point out that the 2016 overtime law, phased in under AB 1066, has inadvertently reduced worker earnings—a concern supported by recent research from the University of California, Berkeley. Similar tax credit measures are already in place in states like Oregon and New York.