We are deeply concerned with the passage of AB 1066 today and the devastating impacts this bill will have on our small, independent farmers and the workers they employ. This mandate does not consider the thousands of agricultural workers who will lose their jobs and the billions of dollars in lost crop production resulting from these new overtime regulations.
There is a false narrative permeating in the politics of this discussion—many would believe agricultural workers receive no overtime pay for their work. This is not only untrue, but in fact California is one of the only states in the nation that provides overtime pay for agricultural workers—and our overtime laws are already the most expansive. In a national and global competitive agricultural economy, AB 1066 only makes our crops more expensive, which will lead to higher prices for working families and lost jobs for agricultural workers.
One out of eleven farmers in California is an NFIB member, and they are telling us this bill will have a devastating impact on their small, independent farms and farmworkers. NFIB strongly urges Governor Brown to veto this legislation and support our small, independent farmers in this state.