{"id":349240,"date":"2026-07-22T23:37:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349240\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T23:37:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:37:36","slug":"not-what-people-voted-for-florida-gov-desantis-calls-out-new-federal-bill-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349240\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018NOT what people voted for…!\u2019 Florida Gov. DeSantis calls out new federal bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took to social media to call out legislation that\u2019s being considered by federal lawmakers, according to a report from our sister station in Orlando, WKMG. <\/a><\/p>\n

That legislation \u2014 dubbed the \u201cSecuring Agriculture\u2019s Workforce Act of 2026<\/a>\u2033 \u2014 was initially introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives late last month by Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania).<\/p>\n

The bill is aimed at updating rules for the H-2A visa program<\/a>, which allows employers to hire foreign workers for temporary agricultural jobs.<\/p>\n

What the bill does<\/p>\n

According to the House Committee on Agriculture and the bill\u2019s text, the following reforms are included in the legislation:<\/p>\n

Expands Which Jobs Can Use H-2A: Removes a requirement that H-2A visas be for seasonal jobs, which has previously excluded sectors of the agriculture industry like dairy from eligibility under the program.<\/p>\n

Broadens Types of Agricultural Work: Ensures that activities like controlled environment agriculture, forestry, aquaculture and the \u201charvest\u201d of livestock would be eligible for the program.<\/p>\n

Stabilizes H-2A Wage Increases: Codifies a wage method based on federal data and ties higher pay to jobs that need more experience.<\/p>\n

Online Platform Creation: Mandates the creation of an online platform for timely correspondence between employers, workers and agencies.<\/p>\n

Unauthorized Farmworkers Pathway: Creates an opportunity for existing unauthorized agricultural workers to gain access to the program if they\u2019re otherwise eligible.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the controversy?<\/p>\n

Proponents of the legislation \u2014 such as cosponsor Rep. Mike Simpson<\/a> (R-Idaho) \u2014 argue that it will help farmers, ranchers and other agricultural employers struggling with a lack of domestic labor.<\/p>\n

But under the bill, certain undocumented migrants who are already employed in agricultural positions would be allowed to apply for H-2A legal status.<\/p>\n

This has prompted opponents like DeSantis to say that the program allows for de-facto amnesty.<\/p>\n

However, it should be noted that the proposal doesn\u2019t include a pathway to citizenship.<\/p>\n

While the measure is still in committee, the debate is likely to resonate in Florida, where agriculture remains a major employer and immigration enforcement is a prominent political issue.<\/p>\n

If the bill is approved and signed into law, though, it\u2019s set to take effect one year after the date of enactment.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 This week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took to social media to call out legislation that\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-349240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}