Prioritizing Help to Businesses Act

Bill: 116-s-135
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Thune, John [R-SD]
Introduced: 2019-01-15
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Foreign labor

Temporary and part-time employment

Unemployment

Visas and passports
Latest action: action_date: 2019-01-15
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2019-01-15
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>Prioritizing Help to Businesses Act</b></p> <p>This bill authorizes additional H-2B visas for temporary nonagricultural workers in states with relatively low unemployment. Currently, such visas are capped nationally at 66,000 a year.</p> <p>For positions in states that had a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.5% or lower in three of the five most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly reports issued in the previous fiscal year, a certain number of H-2B visas may be issued that don't count against the 66,000 per year cap. For such exempted H-2B visas, a state may receive each year no more than 125% of the number of visas for aliens working in the state in the last completed fiscal year or 2,500, whichever is less.</p>

tv_txt: II 116th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 135 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES January 15, 2019 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Prioritizing Help to Businesses Act . 2. Prioritizing the allocation of H–2B visas for States with low unemployment rates (a) In general Section 214(g)(10) of the Immigration and Nationality Act ( 8 U.S.C. 1184(g)(10) ) is amended to read as follows: (10) (A) Except as provided in subparagraphs (B) and (C), 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) 2,500. (C) If more H–2B visa applications are received in a fiscal year on behalf of aliens desiring to work in a State described in subparagraph (A) than the limit set forth in subparagraph (B)— (i) eligible applicants, in a number equal to such limit, 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). . (b) Effective date The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take place on the first day of the first fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.