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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, Legal immigrants provide critical services in some |
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of the most important and often understaffed sectors, such as the |
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meat and dairy industries, agriculture, the food supply chain, |
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manufacturing, and construction; and |
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WHEREAS, In the World War II era, shortages of seasonal labor |
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prompted the federal government to create the H-2 temporary work |
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visa program, which today has two categories; employers can fill |
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seasonal agricultural jobs with foreign workers on H-2A visas, |
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while foreign workers on H-2B visas can be hired to fill temporary |
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jobs in other sectors, among them landscaping, forestry, seafood |
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processing, and hospitality; and |
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WHEREAS, Before utilizing the H-2 programs, employers must |
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make a concerted effort to hire qualified American workers for |
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their open positions and ensure that the guest worker will not |
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adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly |
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employed U.S. workers; although employers need to hire workers |
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quickly to complete harvests and other seasonal tasks, the H-2 |
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application process for certification by the Department of Labor is |
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costly and cumbersome, and the extensive documentation required |
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includes the disclosure of company information; and |
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WHEREAS, The H-2B program has a statutory numerical limit on |
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the total number of guest worker visas issued annually, even as the |
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rate of job openings among the top five H-2B occupations has |
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continued to grow, according to the Department of Labor's Job |
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Openings and Labor Turnover Surveys; in this decade, the fiscal |
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year cap has been reached consistently at an early stage, |
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threatening to shut out employers whose peak seasons occur in late |
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fall and winter; U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle have |
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joined in appeals to the Department of Labor and Department of |
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Homeland Security for the release of supplemental H-2B visas; and |
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WHEREAS, Friction in the guest worker program and burgeoning |
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workforce shortages have driven many businesses to employ |
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undocumented migrant workers in order to meet the demand for goods |
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and services; the situation is likely to grow even more |
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complicated, and employers should not be forced to choose between |
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breaking the law, operating with an insufficient workforce, or |
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outsourcing to other countries; and |
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WHEREAS, Labor scarcity and illegal immigration are |
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perpetual problems in the United States, and expanding and |
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streamlining the guest worker program would effect positive change |
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in both these regards; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to reform the |
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federal guest worker program; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, to the secretary of |
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the Department of Labor, to the secretary of the Department of |
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Homeland Security, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to |
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the congress with the request that this resolution be entered in the |
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Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United |
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States of America. |