Bill Text: TX SCR50 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to reform the federal guest worker program.
Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (N/A) 2025-04-30 - Received by the Secretary of the Senate [SCR50 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-SCR50-Introduced.html
| 89R27284 KSM-D | ||
| By: Johnson, Perry | S.C.R. No. 50 | |
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| WHEREAS, Legal immigrants provide critical services in some | ||
| of the most important and often understaffed sectors, such as the | ||
| meat and dairy industries, agriculture, the food supply chain, | ||
| manufacturing, and construction; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In the World War II era, shortages of seasonal labor | ||
| prompted the federal government to create the H-2 temporary work | ||
| visa program, which today has two categories; employers can fill | ||
| seasonal agricultural jobs with foreign workers on H-2A visas, | ||
| while foreign workers on H-2B visas can be hired to fill temporary | ||
| jobs in other sectors, among them landscaping, forestry, seafood | ||
| processing, and hospitality; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Before utilizing the H-2 programs, employers must | ||
| make a concerted effort to hire qualified American workers for | ||
| their open positions and ensure that the guest worker will not | ||
| adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly | ||
| employed U.S. workers; although employers need to hire workers | ||
| quickly to complete harvests and other seasonal tasks, the H-2 | ||
| application process for certification by the Department of Labor is | ||
| costly and cumbersome, and the extensive documentation required | ||
| includes the disclosure of company information; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The H-2B program has a statutory numerical limit on | ||
| the total number of guest worker visas issued annually, even as the | ||
| rate of job openings among the top five H-2B occupations has | ||
| continued to grow, according to the Department of Labor's Job | ||
| Openings and Labor Turnover Surveys; in this decade, the fiscal | ||
| year cap has been reached consistently at an early stage, | ||
| threatening to shut out employers whose peak seasons occur in late | ||
| fall and winter; U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle have | ||
| joined in appeals to the Department of Labor and Department of | ||
| Homeland Security for the release of supplemental H-2B visas; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Friction in the guest worker program and burgeoning | ||
| workforce shortages have driven many businesses to employ | ||
| undocumented migrant workers in order to meet the demand for goods | ||
| and services; the situation is likely to grow even more | ||
| complicated, and employers should not be forced to choose between | ||
| breaking the law, operating with an insufficient workforce, or | ||
| outsourcing to other countries; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Labor scarcity and illegal immigration are | ||
| perpetual problems in the United States, and expanding and | ||
| streamlining the guest worker program would effect positive change | ||
| in both these regards; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to reform the | ||
| federal guest worker program; and, be it further | ||
| RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
| copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
| the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
| Representatives of the United States Congress, to the secretary of | ||
| the Department of Labor, to the secretary of the Department of | ||
| Homeland Security, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to | ||
| the congress with the request that this resolution be entered in the | ||
| Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United | ||
| States of America. | ||
