Newsletter

This week in Washington, I introduced my first piece of legislation, the Protect Local Farms Act (H.R. 353). Last year, the New York State Farm Laborers Wage Board gave their final recommendation to lower the overtime threshold for farm workers from 60 to 40 hours per week. As hardworking farmers know, farming is not like other industries. Farmers aren't working a desk job from nine to five and do not have a normal workweek or schedule. The Protect Local Farms Act would instead set the overtime wage threshold for agricultural employees to 60 hours nationwide. I have spoken to several groups, including the New York State Grange and the New York Farm Bureau, who have all expressed their support for this solution to this problem.