Posted on 09/02/2016 10:59:55 AM PDT by Nachum
The California State Assembly recently passed a bill that received minimal recognition by the press, outside of the state, but has substantial negative consequences for basically everyone in the country. Once signed by Jerry Brown, the bill, known as AB 1066, will make California the only state in the entire country to provide overtime wages to ag workers after 8 hours a day or 40 hours per week. This change will add about $1BN annually to the cost of growing food in California which will ultimately be passed along to consumers. And since eating isn't really optional, this is effectively a $1BN tax that California has decided to levy on the entire country. Worse yet, increasing food prices is essentially the most regressive form of "tax" possible given the disproportionate share of wages spent on food by low-income families. And, while you may not know it, California is an agricultural powerhouse that produces roughly 1/3 of all vegetables consumed in this country and 2/3s of the fruits and nuts.
Now, we know what you're thinking...why would everyone be entitled to overtime pay at 40 hours per week except farm workers? Well, there is logic behind the exclusion and it has to do with the seasonality of farming. Unlike most industries, farmers are not able to spread their labor needs throughout the year due to harvest schedules and the perishable nature of their crops. But farm workers aren't the only ones excluded from overtime pay. In fact, California has established special overtime rules for hourly workers in a number of other highly-seasonal sectors, including firefighters, actors and ski-resort employees, to name a few.
As you can see from the chart below, the total number of people working in the ag industry in California spikes by about 33% starting in May every
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
ping
Just waiting for someone to make fun of the statement, that California produces 2/3 of the nation’s fruits and nuts...............
I need a greenhouse.
It was wonderful until the lunatics took over. Now they are sending out their acolytes out to ruin other states.
The little nagging logician inside me has to ask....
If workers in other industries get OT after 8 hours, why shouldn’t ag workers? Seems kind of arbitrary.
Prices will rise. Producers in other states, noting the price rise, will increase production. California will lose market share.
How clever of California to effectively gift its job base to other states!
Economics is not that hard.
It’s the law here in PA, too.
In 1989, when I started my Family’s farm and nursery business, we accidentally paid OT, and the State’s Labor Dept and Ag Dept went nuts about it. We had to pay straight time to 40hrs, and start a new 40hr check for anything over that, at straight time.
Try hydroponics.
Really.
All they need to do now is shut off the Water to the San Joaquin Valley and let half of the Farmland go fallow. Oh wait they already did that!!
“California is an agricultural powerhouse”
WAS (past tense)
2/3 of the nation’s fruits and nuts...
I was silently smirking.
I don’t have the room or the light. I’m thinking maybe I could visit some salvage places, assuming that there are any nearby. People often discard old windows and doors. I’d have to run electricity out to it.
Mexico, and the rest of central and south america are increasingly replacing california as produce suppliers.
California is too expensive to grow produce in due to lack of water resources.
Greenhouses in Canada of all places can compete with California now.
Let the valleys revert back to desert. California has become the welfare state for mexico.
Leave it to a Democrat legislature, and Governor to screw up the works. They never fail when it comes to screwing up.
CA still produces more ag than any other two states combined.
Including Texas.
If no one noticed then how did the article get written?
Journalists: Dumber than the dumbest liberal.
Exactly. It's not that economics is hard, it's just ruthless. Because people are involved making choices, liberals think it's a soft science that can be manipulated by various mindgames, regulations and taxes to fit their political correctness model. But economics is as fixed as the law of gravity.
almost all other workers get the benefit of this law (time and a half for overtime work)
maybe the law should be repealed, but as long as we have it.......?
The main determinant of prices in the fruit and vegetable business is still supply and demand. Have a fabulous, ginormous crop and you lose money because the glut on the market makes the price skid toward zero. Widespread crop failure, on the other hand, means that producers with something to ship to market can make out like bank robbers.
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