Title: Prioritizing Help to Businesses Act
Policy area: Immigration

Summary:
Prioritizing Help to Businesses Act
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide states which have low unemployment rates of 3.5% or lower with up to 1,500 additional H-2B visas (temporary nonagricultural workers) per fiscal year. Such visas shall be exempt from the overall H-2B annual visa limit of 66,000.
The bill sets forth a formula to distribute such visas throughout the fiscal year.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2972 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2972

    To prioritize the allocation of H-2B visas for States with low 
                          unemployment rates.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 24, 2018

   Mr. Thune introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To prioritize the allocation of H-2B visas for States with low 
                          unemployment rates.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prioritizing Help to Businesses 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PRIORITIZING THE ALLOCATION OF H-2B VISAS FOR STATES WITH LOW 
              UNEMPLOYMENT RATES.

    Section 214(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1184(g)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(12)(A) Except as provided in subparagraphs (B) through (E), the 
numerical limitation under paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to H-2B 
visas issued to aliens for positions that are certified for employment 
pursuant to subpart A of part 655 of title 20, Code of Federal 
Regulations, to perform service or labor in a State that had a 
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.5 percent or lower in 3 of 
the 5 most recent monthly reports issued by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics in the previous fiscal year.
    ``(B) The number of aliens exempted from the numerical limitation 
pursuant to subparagraph (A) in any State during any fiscal year may 
not exceed the lesser of--
            ``(i) 125 percent of the number of visas issued to aliens 
        working in such State during the most recently concluded fiscal 
        year; or
            ``(ii) 1,500.
    ``(C) The number of aliens exempted from the numerical limitation 
pursuant to subparagraph (A) in any State during the first 6 months of 
any fiscal year may not exceed the lesser of--
            ``(i) 125 percent of the number of visas issued to aliens 
        working in such State during the corresponding period in the 
        most recently concluded fiscal year; or
            ``(ii) 1,000.
    ``(D) If more than 1,000 H-2B visa applications are received during 
the first 6 months of a fiscal year on behalf of aliens desiring to 
work in a State described in subparagraph (A)--
            ``(i) 1,000 eligible applicants shall be selected, by 
        lottery, from such applications for the exemption under 
        subparagraph (A); and
            ``(ii) the remaining applicants shall be subject to the 
        numerical limitation under paragraph (1)(B).
    ``(E)(i) If more H-2B visa applications are received during the 
last 6 months of a fiscal year on behalf of aliens desiring to work in 
a State described in subparagraph (A) than the number computed under 
clause (ii)--
            ``(I) eligible applicants equal to such computed number 
        shall be selected, by lottery, from such applications for the 
        exemption under subparagraph (A); and
            ``(II) the remaining applicants shall be subject to the 
        numerical limitation under paragraph (1)(B).
    ``(ii) The number computed under this clause is the sum of--
            ``(I) the difference between--
                    ``(aa) 1,000; and
                    ``(bb) the number of visas that were issued to 
                aliens desiring to work in the State during the first 6 
                months of a fiscal year that were not subject to the 
                numerical limitation under paragraph (1)(B) pursuant to 
                subparagraph (A); and
            ``(II) 500.''.
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