The last, best chance for immigration reform

Tom Nassif of Western Growers is headed to Washington, D.C. this week and will be pushing hard for Congressional action on immigration reform. Here is the April 20 news release from WG about what Nassif calls the "last, best chance" for immigration reform. I have a time tomorrow to connect with Tom about this effort.

IRVINE, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Growers officials today announced the launch of a concentrated culminating campaign in its three year-long drive to win approval of immigration reform to create a legal, stable work force for agriculture. The concentrated effort will seek to achieve passage of immigration reform prior to the adjournment of Congress for the 2007 summer recess. The campaign will involve focused lobbying, media and education efforts to bring about comprehensive immigration reform that would include provisions for legalizing the estimated 1.2 million illegal agriculture workers in the United States. The effort will push for approval of the AgJOBS provision in the comprehensive reform bill or passage of AgJOBS as a stand alone bill if necessary.
"It is clear that the last, best chance for immigration reform in the foreseeable future is upon us. If Congress does not move on this critical issue and approve sensible immigration reform before it adjourns for the summer recess this country will have lost its last, best chance to fix our broken immigration policy for at least several years," said Tom Nassif, President and CEO of Western Growers. "Agriculture is truly in desperate need of reform. We are heartened to see that we have now been joined by other associations in our industry. That can only make our campaign stronger. We will not rest until we have done everything possible to secure passage of immigration reform. Our workers need it, our farmers need it, our industry needs it and our nation needs reform. We have run out of patience. Now's the time for action."
The AgJOBS bill, known as the Agriculture Job Opportunity, Benefit and Security Act of 2007, was reintroduced in January by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Larry Craig (R-ID) and Representatives George Radonovich (R-CA) and Howard Berman (D-CA). It was originally co-sponsored by Republican Senators Craig, Mel Martinez of Florida and George Voinocivh of Ohio. Democratic senators Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Barbara Boxer of California also co-sponsored the legislation. The House bill ultimately gained more than 25 co-sponsors, divided between the two parties. AgJOBS also enjoys the broad support of an unusual coalition including Western Growers, the United Farm Workers Union, the Catholic Church and an array of activists, agriculture associations, labor and church leaders. The bill was included as a provision of the broader comprehensive immigration reform bill.
"Allowing our immigration policy to deteriorate to the point that it has become such a major catastrophe is a national scandal," said Nassif. "Congress now has a chance to resolve this crisis. The President has pushed for reform since he took office. All it takes now is for our representatives to gather the political will to bring about real reform. We will campaign to remind them of their opportunity and of their duty. We have one simple message: 'We need action ... now!' We trust they will hear us."

Diminished capacity: FDA's role will be focus of Tuesday hearing

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation will meet Tuesday, April 24. The hearing is being called, "Diminished Capacity: Can the FDA Assure the Safety and Security of the Nation's Food Supply?"

No witness list available from the House Web site, but Bill Marler has indicated to me that both industry representatives and consumers (including those touched by E. coli illness) will be represented at the hearing.

Also, Marler has written comments to the subcommittee. Developing...



While on the Web site, I noted the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the Environment and Hazardous Materials will have a hearing about perchlorate on April 25.


Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee will have a hearing on Tuesday, April 24. From the Web site:

A hearing on specialty crops, dairy, sugar, organic production and marketing, and honey. This hearing will be the second in the series on challenges and opportunities facing American agricultural producers.

No witness list yet from the committee Web site.

E. coli settlements reported

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports of settlements relating to wrongful death lawsuits linked to E. coli tainted spinach.
From the April 21 story:

The family of an 81-year-old Nebraska woman who died after eating spinach grown at a San Benito County ranch has reached an undisclosed settlement — the first in what could be a long line of cases stemming from last year's E. coli outbreak.
Two other fatal cases linked to the outbreak in August and September also have been settled. But the circumstances surrounding the wrongful death lawsuits of Betty Howard, 83, of Richland, Wash., and June Dunning, 86, of Hagerstown, Md., weren't as "cut and dried" as the death of Ruby Trautz, according to Bill Marler, the Seattle-based attorney representing the three families as well as dozens of others sickened in the outbreak.
Sarah Brew, an attorney for Dole Food Co., confirmed the settlements were reached in late March in San Diego and the mediation took place in front of retired federal court Judge Lawrence Irving. But she would not comment further.
Attorneys for Mission Organics, which grew the spinach, and Natural Selection Foods, which packed it, could not be reached for comment.
Three people died and nearly 200 were sickened in the outbreak.

Family members described all three parties as "very apologetic" during the mediation process
and said their cases centered more on who should be held more culpable for the deaths — Dole, the marketer; Mission Organics, the grower; or Natural Selection Foods, the processor.
According to Marler, all of the parties are "liable under the law from a consumer's perspective," and they and their insurance companies all came to an agreement on the settlements.

TK: One of the family members quoted talked about the difficulty of putting a monetary value of a person's life. No matter how much money is paid out by insurance companies, the loss of life and health cannot be overcome in a settlement. The extraordinary food safety measures that the industry is now moving toward - despite what one FDA official described as a "paucity of science" - speak to the desperate wish to avoid the human and financial toll of another E. coli outbreak.