County’s proposals adopted by national group

All three of the policy ideas put forth by Yuma County during last week’s National Association of Counties conference in Las Vegas were approved for the national group’s platform, officials said at the county Board of Supervisors meeting this week.

All three include proposals that have been included in state and national county platforms in previous years, including support of changes to administrative rules for the H-2A temporary agricultural program.

H-2A establishes a means for agricultural employers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform seasonal agricultural labor or services. The proposed reforms would make the H-2A process simpler and easier for growers to hire the farmworkers they need, according to a county press release.

Some of the reforms local growers have long sought to the program appear to be in the works now, said Paul Melcher, director of economic government and intergovernmental relations.

A new rule, 489 pages long, has been proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor for inclusion in the Federal Register for the H2-A program, and includes several changes Yuma farmers have been pushing for.

These include allowing electronic filing (the rule actually makes it mandatory) and a prevailing wage provision, which will include “the discussion how to determine wage rates, and making sure they’re focused on agriculture, versus getting some bleedover into the other sectors of employment,” Melcher said.

He said he got a note from Sonny Rodriguez of the Grower’s Company, one of the county’s largest farm labor contractors. “He wanted to convey to the Board of Supervisors he was very proud of what the local efforts have been, and it’s also amazing to him to see that come out almost specifically, point-by-point, what the growers have been requesting for years.”

Melcher said the federal government is accepting public comment on the proposed rule, referred to as “RIN 1205-AB89”

The other two policy proposals from Yuma County to be adopted into NACo’s American County Platform are:

• Federal Tax Intercept of Unpaid Court Fees — If someone has an unpaid court-ordered fine or other obligation, then part or all of their federal income tax refund could be sent to the clerk of court for the county in which the order was entered. Any remaining amount of the refund will be issued to the taxpayer.

Melcher said that starting next month, he will be working with the Arizona Office of the Courts on a plan to lobby Congress for the idea in hopes of getting it passed through and onto the president’s desk.

• Full funding of State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) reimbursements to counties — SCAAP is a payment program designed to provide federal assistance to states and counties that incur costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens.

Melcher said legislation to fully pay these costs now exists, but hasn’t gotten very far.

“That bill, since it’s been introduced May 14, it’s been sitting in Senate judicial review, there hasn’t been any movement on it as of yet,” he said.

During the NACo Annual Conference, the association’s 10 policy steering committees, Board of Directors and the general membership representing more than 3,000 counties, consider policy resolutions that will guide NACo’s federal advocacy for the coming year.

The conference also provided numerous seminars and speakers, said County Supervisor Russell McCloud, current president of the County Supervisors Association of Arizona.

“We spent four or five days in Las Vegas at numerous educational events; there are several things I’m going to talk to other staff members about,” he said.

County Supervisor and Board Chairman Tony Reyes, who attended the convention with McCloud, Supervisor Martin Porchas and other Yuma County representatives, praised the work of his colleagues and County Recorder Robyn Stallworth Pouquette, who is this year’s president of the Arizona Association of Counties.

“It wouldn’t be as successful if it weren’t for the other supervisors who carried the water and went out there and did what they were supposed to do, so thank you very much for doing that, keeping Yuma County issues up in the forefront,” he said.