By WES SANDER and COOKSON BEECHER
Capital Press

The AgJOBS bill that is back in Congress shows early bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. But its chances of passage, as usual, are up in the air.

California's Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced the Agricultural Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act in the U.S. Senate May 14. Reps. Howard L. Berman, D-Calif, and Adam Putnam, R-Fla., simultaneously introduced the same legislation in the House of Representatives.

The bill would start a five-year program to find undocumented farmworkers, legalizing those having worked in the U.S. for two years. It would also tweak the H-2A guestworker program, which is said to be cumbersome and seldom used.

"Today across the United States, there are not enough agricultural workers to pick, prune, pack or harvest our country's crops," Feinstein said in a statement. "This legislation would help to ensure a consistent, reliable agriculture work force to ensure that farmers and growers never again lose their crops because of a lack of workers."

Similar legislation died in Congress in 2007. Other immigration-reform bills have also failed in recent years, running alone or as part of comprehensive immigration measures. Those efforts have enjoyed varying levels of bipartisan support in both houses.

The current bill shows such support only in the House, where it has 26 co-sponsors, 11 Republicans among them. Two of those - Reps. George Radanovich and Devin Nunes - are from California.

Feinstein's bill has sixteen co-sponsors, all Democrats.

Reform of immigration law has kept the United Farm Workers union occupied for at least the past decade. Spokeswoman Maria Machuca said the current effort has strong chances of success with stronger Democratic representation in Washington, in addition to a president who supported similar efforts as a senator.

"I think that everybody understands that farmworkers need immigration reform," Machuca said. "Even if we don't get comprehensive reform, we need to do something for farmworkers."

John Thompson, spokesman for the Idaho Farm Bureau, describes the AgJOBS bill as "a path to a solution."

Pointing out that agriculture in Idaho brings in $21 billion in total sales and employs 156,599 people, Thompson said that having a stable agricultural workforce is essential if agriculture to prosper and grow.

"Without a reliable workforce, it just makes the future so much more tenuous," he said.

Thompson also said the bureau is in favor of the "earned legalization" provision in the bill.

"You can't just round them up and kick them out," he said, referring to the estimated 12 million illegal workers in this country. "It will never happen. It would be too big a job."

In Washington state, Michael Gempler, executive director of the Washington Growers League and immediate past president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers, described the bill as "very significant."

Also significant, he said, is that AgJOBS is a bipartisan bill that has the support of farm and farmworker groups, as well as a wide range of groups including the National Association of Counties.

"Everyone's onboard with this bill," he said. "That's what it will take to get it passed into law. The groups understand the importance of agriculture to our economy, and our rural economy in particular."

Gempler hopes that Congress will pass the bill "in short order" rather than waiting to include it in a comprehensive immigration-reform bill.

Pointing to the likelihood of a mandatory E-verify system and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's more aggressive stance toward employers who hire illegal workers, Gempler said AgJOBS is all the more critical now.

"Our country depends on agriculture," he said. "We need to make sure it can run efficiently without the unacceptable risky environment we're working in now."

Washington state's ag employers hire about 100,000 seasonal workers each year, Gempler said.

Francisco Lopez, executive director of Oregon immigrant rights group Causa, said it's a positive sign that Congress and President Obama are pressing ahead on an overhaul of immigration laws.

He's also pleased that the AgJOBS bill hasn't been merged into one large immigration-reform bill.

"Keeping it as a separate bill is a better strategy because it conforms to the needs of agriculture," he said. "For too long now the needs of farmers and workers have been neglected. AgJOBS is good for both."

Like Gempler, Lopez said that as long as you have growers and farmworkers together on this, the bill has a good chance of moving forward.

"I think the consensus is there," he said. "It's a positive thing for our country."

Lopez also said he hopes to see a total overhaul of immigration laws by the end of the summer.

Staff writer Wes Sander is based in Sacramento. E-mail: wsander@capitalpress.com. Staff writer Cookson Beecher is based in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. E-mail: cbeecher@capitalpress.com.