Slow but steady • Workers in a Yuma lettuce field have to keep up with a slow-moving tractor that follows long rows as it pulls a platform where lettuce is crated and ready for boxing. Agriculture industry leaders say it will be difficult to find enough workers to harvest Arizona’s fields unless the state allows workers in from Mexico.

Sen. Ron Gould, a fierce critic of a bipartisan effort to create a guest-worker program in Arizona, has declared he will not be a party to “selling out” the American worker.
Gould is offering more than a dozen amendments to the legislation in an effort to stall, dilute or sink the proposal. The Republican senator from Lake Havasu has gained a reputation as a crafty opponent for his ability to use procedural maneuvers to his advantage.
Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger, D-Willcox, the proposal’s primary sponsor, said certain elements of the Gould amendments are acceptable. But the rest are flawed or contrary to existing federal laws, she said.
Arzberger said one of the problems with the Gould amendments is that they begin by addressing one issue but then include details in text below that affect other elements of the original bill.
“There are hidden items in the amendments, which makes it difficult to support,” she said.
Gould, on the other hand, said he is not sure there is a shortage of workers in the state.
 “I don’t want to state to create a bad plan that is modeled by other states and the federal government,” he said.
Following is an explanation of several of Gould’s proposed changes to S1508:
Gould Amendment No. 11 would prohibit an employer from recruiting a foreign worker who is pregnant. It also would require the Industrial Commission of Arizona to revoke the temporary worker ID card of workers who become pregnant during their time in the U.S.
The bill allows the commission to revoke an employer’s participation in the guest-worker program if the commission has determined that the employer did not take sufficient steps to hire local workers. The Gould amendment takes that another step by requiring — rather than allowing — the commission to revoke the authorization under these circumstances. In addition, the employer’s authorization to participate would also be cancelled if the employer did not immediately terminate a worker who becomes pregnant.
Gould Amendment No. 1 would limit the recruitment of temporary workers to agriculture and dairy employers experiencing a labor shortage. It also would allow the hiring of foreign workers at a U.S. consulate in any country, rather than in Mexico only, and require an employer to review a foreign worker’s passport.
In addition, it would require an employer, before recruitment, to purchase a bond for the guest workers as a security that would cover any costs associated with deportation or court proceedings if a worker commits a crime. Employers would be required to put up a bond of at least $100,000 that would cover the first 10 temporary workers; the bond would have to be increased by $10,000 for each additional worker.
The bill specifies that foreign workers cannot participate in the guest-worker program if they have any prior convictions in their native countries that would qualify as a Class 1 misdemeanor or a felony under Arizona law. The amendment would prohibit a worker from getting hired if he or she has been convicted of any crime in his or her country that would have been a crime in Arizona, if they ever had been deported from the U.S., or if they don’t have a proper passport. The amendment also would require a worker whose temporary ID card is revoked to leave the state immediately, instead of within three business days.
That amendment also states that an employer could be charged with a Class 6 felony if he or she knows a worker’s identification card should be revoked because of specified circumstances but fails to report it to the Industrial Commission.
The amendment also would limit the length of time the temporary ID would be valid to one year, instead of the two years proposed in the original bill.
Gould Amendment No. 5 would link the enactment of the guest-worker program to federal authorization and the issuance of a proclamation by the governor that the state’s border with Mexico is secure.
Gould Amendment No. 14 would require a worker to reimburse the state for the K-12 education of his or her child in Arizona.
Gould Amendment No. 13 would require an employer to withhold 5 percent of a worker’s wage. The employer must electronically transmit the money to the U.S. consulate where the worker was recruited. The temporary worker would receive the money upon request to the U.S. consulate after returning to his or her country of origin.
Gould Amendment No. 8 would require foreign workers to have a medical checkup before participating in the program to determine whether they have any infectious diseases.
Gould Amendment No. 10 would require employers either to provide health coverage to the foreign worker equivalent to the health insurance of Arizona’s state employees, or to make a contribution to a medical savings account on behalf of a guest worker in an amount that is equal to the cost of providing health insurance to state employees. An employer who does neither would be ineligible to participate in the program.   
Arzberger, though, had problems with many of the amendments because she believes they conflict with federal laws.
She said a prohibition against hiring pregnant workers is against the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
Plus, she said it’s also against federal law to require workers to reimburse the state for K-12 education.
Other proposed changes simply aren’t good policy, Arzberger said.
She said the amendment requiring a health check for workers would mean an Arizona doctor would have to go to the country where the worker is being hired to conduct the examination. “That one is flawed,” she said.
Also, providing health coverage equal to what state employees get would be cost prohibitive to begin with, she said. That would cost employers in Maricopa County $5,500 a year and those outside, about $7,300 a year.
“Any employer that has health insurance benefits, these temporary workers are eligible to get,” she said. “So, we are talking about an employer that doesn’t have (health insurance). If they have special temporary worker health care (coverage), that means they leave American workers out.” ≠