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OABA PRESS RELEASE​​​
Contact:
Robert Johnson
President
June 16, 2016 ​​​​​ 407-681-9444​​​​​​

The Outdoor Amusement Business Association (OABA), representing the mobile amusement industry, is pleased that the Senate Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, retained in its mark-up of its Fiscal Year 2017 spending bill, important H-2B temporary non-immigrate, foreign worker provisions that will help keep American small businesses open and protect American jobs. The Senate Appropriations Committee considered and approved the legislation last week and it is likely to reach the floor sometime this summer.

The provisions will instruct regulatory agencies to make every effort to make the H-2B Visa program more workable for the small and seasonal business community. This year, severe back-ups at these regulatory agencies, including the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security, put American jobs at risk by making it much more difficult for small businesses to be fully operational by delaying the arrival of workers who need the visas to legally work in the United States.

“Chairman Roy Blunt and Ranking Member Patty Murray, and the other members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, should be congratulated for their efforts to pare back onerous provisions of DOL regulations that could impair the ability of small, seasonal employers to effectively use the H-2B non-immigrating temporary foreign worker program,” stated Robert Johnson, President of the OABA “Our carnivals, concessionaires, and independent ride operators who serve America’s fairs and not for profit fundraising have found H-2B workers to be a great source of employees to supplement US workers in the mobile amusement industry,” Johnson continued. “If our employers don’t have an adequate workforce they can’t fulfill their contracts. When we lose contracts, US workers’ jobs are threatened.”

“Our Senator Roy Blunt, as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Labor HHS subcommittee, recognizes that bad federal rules hurt employees and employers. We appreciate his leadership to provide guidance on process regarding determining prevailing wages and defining term of seasonal need. Unelected bureaucrats often make rules that make no sense,” said Lorelei Schoendienst of Luehrs’ Ideal Rides, a second generation, family carnival company operating in Missouri.

During the fair and exhibition season the mobile amusement industry uses more than 15,000 seasonal workers. The itinerant nature of the work discourages many in the traditional US labor pool from taking these jobs. About one with every three jobs are now filled by legally hired, H-2B visa holders, with over 80% returning year-after-year to work with the same employer. They then return home to their own country. Over 10,000 US jobs are preserved by employers being able to have an adequate workforce to meet contractual requirements at the various venues. All workers are paid in accordance with DOL’s prevailing wage rates.

H-2B Workforce Coalition Applauds Committee Passage of Labor-HHS Bill

(WASHINGTON, DC) -- The H-2B Workforce Coalition applauded the work of the Senate Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, which included in its mark-up of its yearly spending bill important provisions that will help keep American small businesses open and sustain American jobs.

The Senate Appropriations Committee considered the legislation last week, and is hoped to reach the floor sometime this summer.

The provisions will instruct regulatory agencies to make every effort to make the H-2B Visa program more workable for the small business community. This year, severe back-ups at these regulatory agencies, including the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security, put American jobs at risk by making it much more difficult for small businesses to stay in business by delaying the arrival of workers who need the visas to legally work in the United States.

“The hotel industry's continued growth and success is attributable in many ways to the hardworking employees and workforce who operate our lodging facilities, especially during peak tourism seasons,” said Brian Crawford, vice president of Government and Political Affairs at the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Co-Chair of the H-2B Workforce Coalition. “We applaud the leadership of Chairman Roy Blunt for recognizing the vital role the H-2B program has on hotel industry employers who must fill critical job functions during high-demand seasons when they cannot find American workers. We thank Senator Blunt for his leadership to help ensure our communities remain vibrant while keeping our businesses running by providing American employers the tools they need to recruit workers for temporary employment in this country.”

“Our Senator Roy Blunt, as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Labor HHS subcommittee, recognizes that bad federal rules hurt employees and employers,” says Lorelei Schoendienst of Luehr’s Rides, a Missouri mobile amusement business. “We appreciate his leadership to provide guidance on process regarding determining prevailing wages and defining term of seasonal need. Unelected bureaucrats often make rules that make no sense.”

“The H-2B program allows our company to fill temporary seasonal jobs that support our American workforce and allow us to serve the community. Thanks to Senator Blunt and the entire appropriations committee for recognizing that onerous regulations and processing delays make the program costly, unpredictable, and jeopardize American jobs. The relief provided by the committee will benefit our American and H-2B workers and ensure that we will be able to continue to provide our customers with high quality service,” said Maurice Dowell, President of Dowco Enterprises Inc., one of the companies that faced processing delays.

Studies show that for every H-2B visa that is issued, 4.6 American jobs are sustained: “The helping hands of temporary and seasonal H-2B worker lift up the job security and success of thousands upon thousands of American workers employed in industries like horticulture and landscaping. Employers need balance and certainty, and so AmericanHort thanks the Senate appropriators who saw fit to again include positive H-2B provisions in their version of the Labor-HHS funding bill,” said AmericanHort senior vice president Craig Regelbrugge.

Sabeena Hickman, the Chief Executive Officer of NALP, agreed: “On behalf of our nation’s landscape professionals, I’d like to thank the committee for recognizing the important role the H-2B program serves in allowing America’s seasonal businesses to thrive. In its wisdom the committee was able to see through the rhetoric, understand the tremendous value that results through H-2B, and recognize that without this crucial program many businesses would be forced to cut contracts, scale back business operations, or take other actions that place full time American jobs at risk.”

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The H-2B Workforce Coalition is a consortium of various industry associations throughout the United States that have joined together to protect American workers by ensuring American small and seasonal employers have access to legal short-term temporary workers during peak business periods.

H2BWorkforceCoalition.com

The fate of the 2017 Returning Worker Exemption under the H-2B visa program won’t be determined until next week at the earliest, as the House Appropriations Committee has postponed today’s scheduled markup of the Department of Homeland Security budget.

The committee meeting is now set for June 22.

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Kentucky and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement on the postponement:

“The horrific act of terror in Orlando over the weekend is heartbreaking, and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those involved in the response and investigation.

“The Department of Homeland Security has just begun its investigation into this terrible crime. Members of Congress will be receiving briefings from the relevant agencies over the next several days. It is important for the Appropriations Committee to ensure that our legislation that funds the Department of Homeland Security reflects any emerging or future needs the Department may have. Therefore, the full committee markup of the Homeland Security Appropriations bill is postponed until next week, when more facts are available and to allow time for careful consideration of any necessary changes that may or may not be needed.”

Trade associations representing landscape contractors, growers, nurseries, forestry, seafood processors, hospitality and entertainment businesses are monitoring the DHS budget bill closely. They’re hoping to see a policy rider attached to the bill that keeps in place an exemption of returning workers from the H-2B program’s annual cap on visas issued to non-immigrant, seasonal foreign labor.

The Outdoor Amusement Business Association’s member carnivals, concessionaires and independent ride owners involved with the H-2B program, represents about 8% of the total program cap of 66,000. The mobile amusement industry has about a 85% returning worker rate each season and why we are lobbying hard to keep the returning worker language in this DHS Appropriations funding bill for 2017 fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1.

The current exemption was put in place through an amendment to the Omnibus budget bill that passed and signed by the President in December 2015. The amendment provided that all foreign workers who had held an H-2B visa during any of the past three fiscal years would not count toward the annual cap of 66,000 visas allowed.

“The mobile amusement industry has over 85% returning H-2B guest workers each season that come here legally and love to work in this entertainment industry that support America’s Fairs, Festivals and Community events. These guest workers don’t mind traveling from week to week, experiencing America’s communities and our culture. This H-2B visa program helps support American jobs and small, family business owners that comprise the mobile amusement industry.”
Please tweet to the following influencial people and let them know we need their support for this program.
The list is located below. The following Video shows the importance of the H2B program to the Mobile Amusement Industry.


Robert Aderholt - @robert_aderholt
Ken Calvert - @kencalvert
David Valadao - @repdavidvaladao
Fred Frelinghuysen - @usreprodney
Betty McCollum - @bettymccollum04
Mike Simpson - @congmikesimpson
Jeff Fortenberry - @jefffortenberry

OABA produced H2B documentary on you tube