[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4249 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4249

    To authorize, if applicable, the Secretary of Labor to annually 
  establish a 2-tiered wage rate for H-2A workers that distinguishes 
   between entry-level and experience-level workers and to annually 
establish a compensation adjustment factor to account for the value of 
                   housing provided to H-2A workers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 26, 2026

 Mr. Budd (for himself, Mr. Scott of South Carolina, Mrs. Hyde-Smith, 
 Mr. Boozman, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Ricketts, Mr. Tillis, Ms. Lummis, and Mr. 
    Wicker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To authorize, if applicable, the Secretary of Labor to annually 
  establish a 2-tiered wage rate for H-2A workers that distinguishes 
   between entry-level and experience-level workers and to annually 
establish a compensation adjustment factor to account for the value of 
                   housing provided to H-2A workers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Farmworker Access and Retention 
Modernization Stability Act'' or the ``FARM Stability Act''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL WAGE RATES AND ADJUSTMENTS FOR H-2A WORKERS.

    Section 218(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1188(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(3) If the Secretary of Labor determines a minimum wage rate 
other than the Federal or State minimum wage rate applicable to 
agricultural employment is required to be paid to H-2A workers, the 
Secretary shall--
            ``(A) annually establish a 2-tiered wage rate based on the 
        skill level required for H-2A occupations that--
                    ``(i) classifies positions requiring entry-level 
                workers as Skill Level I;
                    ``(ii) classifies positions requiring experience-
                level workers with formal education, training 
                certificates, or significant experience in agricultural 
                operations as Skill Level II; and
                    ``(iii) sets the wage rate for Skill Level II H-2 A 
                workers higher than the wage rate for Skill Level I H-
                2A workers; and
            ``(B) account for the value of housing provided to H-2A 
        workers by--
                    ``(i) annually establishing a compensation 
                adjustment factor to the wage rate established for each 
                State pursuant to subparagraph (A);
                    ``(ii) computing such compensation adjustment 
                factor as an equivalent hourly rate based on the 
                weighted statewide average of fair market rents for a 
                4-bedroom housing unit available from the Department of 
                Housing and Urban Development; and
                    ``(iii) keeping such compensation adjustment factor 
                at or below 30 percent of the relevant wage rate 
                established pursuant to subparagraph (A).''.
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