H2-B Flyin

H-2B Fly-In To Washington Scheduled

Save Small Business, an organization with which AH&LA works on the H-2B issue, has announced a fly-in to Washington, DC for Wednesday, December 5 and Thursday, December 6, 2007, to provide an opportunity for employers to meet with their representatives and senators and urge them to pass legislation to provide relief to the H-2B visa program.

Save Small Business does not require registration for this event. Like past fly-ins, they ask participants to make their own flight and lodging reservations. They also ask that participants make their own appointments with their representatives and senators prior to arriving in Washington.

Although the organizers do not require confirmation of attendance, participating hoteliers are asked to contact Renee Brockinton, rbrockinton@ahla.com, or Shawn McBurney, smcburney@ahla.com, with their contact information so that AH&LA can contact them regarding a possible reception in Washington the evening before.

The event will provide employers that rely on the H-2B program an opportunity to dedicate one or two days to meet with members of Congress, explain the importance of the H-2B program to their businesses, urge them to support legislation critical to the program's health.

On the day of the fly-in, a meeting is typically held for all participants in the morning where they are provided with information packets and hear from congressional staff and others on the status of the H-2B legislation. After the meeting, participants are encouraged to form into groups with others from their states in order to attend the scheduled meetings as a delegation.

The current H-2B relief was approved at the urging of AH&LA and others who rely on access to seasonal labor. The number of seasonal workers available under the H-2B program is capped at 66,000 per year. The relief measure effectively increases the number of H-2B visa seasonal workers available by exempting workers from the cap who have worked in the U.S. under the H-2B visa program in any one of the three years prior to a year could work under the program again. This relief provision expired on September 30. The provision which was enacted along with the provision that divided the annual allotment of H-2B visas into two portions, with 33,000 being distributed in the first half of the fiscal year and the remaining distributed in the second half of the fiscal year, is permanent.

AH&LA has asked its members to contact their senators to ask them to cosponsor S. 988 introduced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) which would extend the H-2B relief provision for 5 years, and their representatives who should be asked to cosponsor H.R. 1843 introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) which would make the H-2B relief provision permanent.

Hoteliers should contact their Senators and Representatives through www.ahla.com/grassroots or call them directly and urge them to cosponsor S. 988 or H.R. 1843.

For more information, contact AH&LA Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs Shawn McBurney at 202-289-3123 or smcburney@ahla.com.