I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1562 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to simplify the petitioning 

procedure for H–2A workers, to expand the scope of the H–2A program, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 15, 2013 

Mr. GIBSON (for himself, Mr. REED, Mr. OWENS, and Mr. SEAN PATRICK

MALONEY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to simplify 

the petitioning procedure for H–2A workers, to expand 

the scope of the H–2A program, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Farm Relief 

5 Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE TO ADMINISTER H– 

7 2A PROGRAM. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 218 of the Immigration 

9 and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1188) is amended by strikVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:31 Apr 19, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1562.IH H1562

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1 ing the term ‘‘Secretary of Labor’’ each place it appears 

2 and inserting ‘‘Secretary of Agriculture’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 1 year 

5 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 3. ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM FOR H–2A PETITIONS. 

7 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

8 of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall establish 

9 a process for receiving petitions for nonimmigrant visas 

10 under section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of the Immigration and 

11 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a)). In es12 tablishing such process, the Secretary shall ensure— 

13 (1) that petitioners may file such petitions over 

14 the Internet on an Internet Web page of the Sec15 retary; 

16 (2) that any software developed to process such 

17 petitions on such Internet Web page shall indicate to 

18 the petitioner any technical deficiency in the applica19 tion prior to submission; and 

20 (3) that each petitioner shall be able to file 

21 such petition in a paper format. 

22 SEC. 4. REPEAL OF 50-PERCENT DOMESTIC WORKFORCE 

23 REQUIREMENT. 

24 Subparagraph (B) of section 218(c)(3) of the Immi25 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1188(c)(3)) is reVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:31 Apr 19, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1562.IH H1562

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1 pealed, and any rule made by the Secretary of Labor or 

2 the Secretary of Homeland Security to carry out such sub3 paragraph may not continue in effect. 

4 SEC. 5. PREVAILING PRACTICES SURVEY. 

5 In the case of an employer petitioning under section 

6 218 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

7 1188), the submission of a prevailing practice survey re8 garding employment practices shall not be required. 

9 SEC. 6. ALTERATION OF REGION OF REFERENCE. 

10 Section 218(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality 

11 Act (8 U.S.C. 1188(b)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘within 

12 a multi-state region of traditional or expected labor sup13 ply’’ and inserting ‘‘within an area of 150 square miles 

14 in the United States centered around the place of employ15 ment’’. 

16 SEC. 7. PROHIBITION AND REPEAL OF CERTAIN RULES. 

17 (a) RULES REGARDING RECRUITMENT AND REFER18 RAL REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of Agriculture may 

19 not make any rule for purposes of carrying out section 

20 218(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that— 

21 (1) requires that an employer advertise an offer 

22 of employment— 

23 (A) on a particular date; or 

24 (B) in a particular publication; 


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1 (2) requires that an employer contact workers 

2 who the employer employed in the prior year or 

3 growing season; or 

4 (3) requires that an employer submit a recruit5 ment report. 

6 (b) PROHIBITION ON REQUIREMENT OF CERTIFI7 CATION BY EMPLOYERS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture 

9 or the Secretary of Homeland Security may not 

10 make any rule pertaining to a petition under section 

11 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of the Immigration and Nation12 ality Act, that requires an employer to provide a cer13 tification of— 

14 (A) recruitment advertisements; or 

15 (B) recruitment reports. 

16 (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this 

17 section shall be construed as limiting the authority 

18 of the Secretary to require an attestation regarding 

19 such matters from any such employer. 

20 (c) REPEAL OF EXISTING RULES.—Any rule that is 

21 described in subsection (a) that is currently in effect may 

22 not continue in effect beginning on the date that is 60 

23 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 8. INCLUSION OF CERTAIN YEAR-ROUND LIVESTOCK 

2 WORKERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) of 

4 the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

5 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, labor 

6 as a year-round livestock worker (including as a dairy 

7 worker)’’ before ‘‘, and the pressing of apples for cider’’. 

8 (b) LENGTH OF STAY FOR YEAR-ROUND LIVESTOCK

9 WORKERS.—Section 218 of the Immigration and Nation10 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1188), as amended by this Act, is fur11 ther amended by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(j) SPECIAL RULE FOR YEAR-ROUND LIVESTOCK

13 WORKERS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this 

14 section, an H–2A worker who is admitted for purposes of 

15 performing labor as a year-round livestock worker (includ16 ing as a dairy worker) may be admitted for a period of 

17 not more than 12 months. At the end of that period, the 

18 Secretary of Homeland Security may not approve a peti19 tion to import that alien as an H–2A worker for a period 

20 of 3 months. Such a petition may be filed pertaining to 

21 that alien any number of times. Such petition may not 

22 be filed by any person who, at the time of filing, is an 

23 alien who is unlawfully present in the United States.’’. 


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1 SEC. 9. REPLACEMENT OF WORKERS AND EXPEDITED AD2 MINISTRATIVE APPEALS. 

3 Section 218 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

4 (8 U.S.C. 1188), as amended by this Act, is further 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(k) REPLACEMENT OF WORKERS.—On receiving no7 tice that an H–2A worker recruited or hired by an em8 ployer has prematurely abandoned employment or has 

9 failed to appear for employment, the Secretary of State 

10 shall promptly issue a visa under section 

11 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(a) to an eligible alien designated by the 

12 employer to replace that worker and the Secretary of 

13 Homeland Security shall expeditiously admit such alien 

14 into the United States.’’. 

15 SEC. 10. AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS AND POOLING OF 

16 WORKERS. 

17 Section 218(d) of the Immigration and Nationality 

18 Act (8 U.S.C. 1188(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(d) ROLE OF AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(1) FILING BY AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION

21 PERMITTED.—An application to hire an H–2A work22 er may be filed by an association of agricultural em23 ployers which use agricultural labor. 

24 ‘‘(2) TREATMENT OF ASSOCIATIONS ACTING AS

25 EMPLOYERS.—If an association is a joint or sole em26 ployer of H–2A workers, such H–2A workers may be 


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1 transferred among its members to perform agricul2 tural labor of the same nature for which the applica3 tion was approved. 

4 ‘‘(3) TREATMENT OF VIOLATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(A) INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.—If an indi6 vidual member of a joint employer association 

7 violates any condition for approval with respect 

8 to the member’s application, the Secretary of 

9 Agriculture shall deny such application only 

10 with respect to that member of the association 

11 unless the Secretary determines that the asso12 ciation or other member participated in, had 

13 knowledge of, or had reason to know of the vio14 lation. 

15 ‘‘(B) ASSOCIATION OF AGRICULTURAL EM16 PLOYERS.— 

17 ‘‘(i) JOINT EMPLOYER.—If an associa18 tion representing agricultural employers as 

19 a joint employer violates any condition for 

20 approval with respect to the association’s 

21 application, the Secretary of Agriculture 

22 shall deny such application only with re23 spect to the association and may not apply 

24 the denial to any individual member of the 

25 association, unless the Secretary deterVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:31 Apr 19, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1562.IH H1562

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1 mines that the member participated in, 

2 had knowledge of, or had reason to know 

3 of the violation. 

4 ‘‘(ii) SOLE EMPLOYER.—If an associa5 tion of agricultural employers approved as 

6 a sole employer violates any condition for 

7 approval with respect to the association’s 

8 application, no individual member of the 

9 association may be the beneficiary of the 

10 services of H–2A workers admitted under 

11 this section in the occupation in which 

12 such H–2A workers were employed by the 

13 association which was denied approval dur14 ing the period such denial is in force.’’. 

15 SEC. 11. AGENCY REPORT REQUIRED WHEN DELAYS 

16 OCCUR. 

17 Section 218(c) of the Immigration and Nationality 

18 Act (8 U.S.C (c)) is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(5) AGENCY REPORT REQUIRED WHEN

21 DELAYS OCCUR.—A report shall be submitted to the 

22 Committee on Agriculture of the Senate and the 

23 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep24 resentatives for any month in which the average 

25 reponse time under paragraph (2) to a filing is 


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1 greater than 7 days. The report shall be submitted 

2 not later than the last day of the month that imme3 diately follows the month in which such average re4 sponse time limit was exceeded.’’. 

5 SEC. 12. GAO REPORT. 

6 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

7 of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to Con8 gress a report on a study— 

9 (1) evaluating the effects of introducing biomet10 ric identification cards to H–2A workers; 

11 (2) whether the usage of such identification 

12 cards would promote efforts to efficiently enforce the 

13 immigration laws and streamline the visa application 

14 and admission process for H–2A workers; and 

15 (3) examining any delay in the processing of 

16 applications and petitions under the H–2A program 

17 and in the administration of the program. 

Æ 


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