Janelle Irwin Taylor
Sen. Jay Collins has filed legislation (SB 84) that would open the door for on-site housing for “legally verified agricultural workers.”
The measure is similar to a bill (SB 1082) he filed in the 2024 Legislation Session that cleared both chambers easily, but fell victim to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ veto pen at the time. DeSantis in his veto message said he worried the measure did not have an enforcement mechanism and could lead to housing undocumented migrants.
The version of the bill for the 2025 Legislative Session is nearly identical and appears not to include language that would remedy DeSantis’ concern.
Still, it’s likely to again gain broad support — including backing from the state’s agriculture industry, as it had the first go-around — and DeSantis not being wrapped up in a presidential contest on the national stage could help convince him to tuck the veto pen away this time.
The bill would guarantee the agriculture industry the ability to build housing for farmworkers under specified conditions. It would prevent local governments from enacting local ordinances inhibiting construction of farmworker housing as long as state guidelines were met.
Those guidelines, among others, include a requirement that the housing be for legally verified workers and meet all federal standards for H-2A visa housing. The H-2A program allows U.S. employers who meet certain regulatory requirements to bring foreign nationals into the U.S. to fill temporary agriculture jobs. Supporters, including the agriculture industry, back Collins’ bill — and are likely to do so again — because it would have increased access to farmworkers who have been in short supply since DeSantis’ crackdown on illegal immigrants and undocumented immigrants.
The industry had already cut back on some planting this year due to labor shortages and, without intervention, may have to do so again, according to CBS News.
The bill, as it did in the 2024 iteration, includes protections for neighboring properties, such as not allowing a housing unit to be within 250 feet of adjacent residential property and requiring a fence (trees, solid fencing material or tall shrubbery) separating property if the housing unit is located within 500 feet of neighboring residential properties.
The bill would also rescind allowances for farmworker housing if the property goes unused for the intended purpose for more than a year or if the land ceases to be classified as agricultural land. The residential building’s square footage could not exceed 1.5% of the total agricultural land area or 35,000 square feet, whichever is less.
The bill also requires any farmworker housing to meet federal, state and local building regulations, including those required under the H-2A visa housing program.
As of Monday morning, Collins had not yet received a House sponsor. Several House co-sponsors signed on to a similar measure (HB 1051) for the 2024 Legislative Session, including Reps. Kaylee Tuck, Danny Alvarez, Johanna Lopez, Stan McClain and Lawrence McClure.
