[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2362-S2363]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. PADILLA (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Warren, Mr. 
        Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Sanders, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mr. 
        Wyden, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Brown, Mr. Markey, 
        and Mr. Menendez):
  S. 2253. A bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to 
provide increased labor law protections for agricultural workers, and 
for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the 
Fairness for Farmworkers Act, which I am reintroducing today.
  Farmworkers feed our Nation. This is especially true in California, 
the agricultural heart of the Nation. California

[[Page S2363]]

is the most successful State in agricultural production and has the 
largest population of farmworkers. In fact, more than one-third of our 
country's vegetables and two-thirds of fruits and nuts come from 
California. During COVID-19, a time of incredible hardship, farmworkers 
put food on the tables of millions of Americans despite working in 
extreme conditions and facing deep-rooted inequities in the workforce. 
The time to address these inequities is now.
  While the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act established Federal standards 
for minimum wage and overtime pay, the law excluded millions of 
domestic and agricultural workers, who were overwhelmingly people of 
color. In 2016, California recognized the need to provide farmworkers 
overtime protection. The California overtime law, which ensures 
farmworkers will have an equal right to overtime pay, is the same model 
as this Federal bill.
  Farmworkers in California and across the Nation deserve an end to 
discrimination in labor laws. We must undo the discriminatory exclusion 
of farmworkers by amending the Fair Labor Standards Act.
  That is why I am proud to introduce this bill, which will improve the 
lives of farmworkers and their families, create equity in our food 
system, and benefit farming communities as the increased wages are 
spent in local businesses.
  This bill will gradually implement overtime pay over the course of 4 
years and bring greater equity to the American agricultural industry to 
greater prosperity to historically marginalized workers.
  This legislation will also boost farming community economies as 
increased wages are spent in local businesses.
  I want to thank Congressman Grijalva for introducing this bill with 
me, and I hope our colleagues will join us in support of this bill that 
would provide a measure of long overdue fairness for our Nation's 
farmworkers.
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