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11/9/2011
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Recent News for the Louisiana Irrigation Association
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By host on
11/29/2011
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IA Call to Support EPA's Decision to Remove Turfgrass Restriction
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Call to Support WaterSense Notification of Intent
On Oct. 25, WaterSense released a notification of intent announcing proposed changes to the single-family new home specification -- including the proposed removal of the 40 percent turfgrass restriction as an option for landscape design.
The Irrigation Association fully supports this decision and we look forward to working with WaterSense on the use of the Water Budget Tool and other recommended changes outlined in the notification of intent.
The notification of intent is currently open for public comment. We urge all members to submit comments to the EPA regarding the proposed changes to the WaterSense single-family new home specification.
Please click here for IA-developed suggested comments and directions on how to submit comments to the EPA by Dec. 21.
Thanks for your help in supporting the landscape irrigation industry. If you have any questions regarding the WaterSense notification of intent or the IA comments, please contact IA Federal Affairs John Farner at johnfarner@irrigation.org.
For more information on recent IA activity regarding the WaterSense EPA new homes specification, click here.
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6540 Arlington Blvd. | Falls Church, VA 22042-6638 | Tel: 703.536.7080 | Fax: 703.536.7019 | www.irrigation.org
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By host on
11/9/2011
FALLS CHURCH, VA. (Oct. 25, 2011) – The Irrigation Association applauds the recent
announcement of the WaterSense program’s intent to remove the 40 percent turfgrass
restriction from the single-family new home specification. WaterSense’s announcement
culminates three years of the Irrigation Association’s efforts to remove this option from
the new homes specification.
Released in December 2009, the final specification of the WaterSense single-family new
home labeling program that enabled a new home to qualify for a WaterSense label
contained two options for landscape design: 1) adhere to a water budget tool, or 2)
restrict the use of turfgrass to 40 percent of the landscapable area. With the recent
announcement by WaterSense, the only requirement for builders wishing to be eligible
for this labeling would be to adhere to the water budget tool.
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By host on
11/9/2011
A request from Tom Delaney, Director of Government Affairs at PLANET.
Hi All
I am asking you to consider contacting key legislators to urge your support of important policy provisions contained within the draft bill funding the Labor Department for the next fiscal year.
Your Help Needed:
While we are pleased that these priorities, described below, have been included within the bill, this is just the first step toward enacting any of them. For such a provision to be adopted, ultimately both the House and Senate will need to approve them in legislation that is sent to the President. Obviously, this will be an uphill battle and, while not impossible, the window of opportunity is now small. The likelihood of any of these provisions making it into final legislation will be strengthened if the Subcommittee meets and approves the draft legislation. Consequently, we encourage you to communicate your support for these provisions to all Members of Congress, but in particular to the Republicans on the House Labor-HHS Appropriation Subcommittee.
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By host on
11/9/2011
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For Immediate Release September 14, 2011
For additional information contact:
Jonathan Bardzik, Director of Marketing and Industry Relations
202-789-2900
E-Verify to Be Taken Up
in House Committee This Week
Washington, D.C.— On September 15, the House Judiciary Committee will take up and consider Chairman Lamar Smith’s Legal Workforce Act legislation (H.R.2164) mandating that all U.S. employers use the E-Verify system within three years. E-Verify is the electronic system for verifying whether a prospective hire is legally authorized to work in the U.S. It is currently voluntary.
The American Nursery & Landscape Association, along with partner seasonal and agricultural employer organizations, have sounded the alarm over the impact of E-Verify without labor supply solutions for U.S. agriculture and seasonal employers. Government and private estimates suggest that upwards of 75 percent of hired farm workers lack proper work authorization, and would be screened out by E-Verify, leading to a national crisis much like that experienced in the state of Georgia when a state-level immigration bill was passed there earlier this year. Georgia growers have already estimated labor shortages as high as 30 to 50 percent, and crop losses that could exceed $300 million in 2011 alone.
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By host on
11/9/2011
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Help Save the H-2B Program
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Take Action!
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As you know, two pending Department of Labor (DOL) regulations will make the H-2B program virtually unusable. Several Senators and Members of Congress are aware of the harm that the rules will pose for small businesses and plan to send a letter to DOL asking the Department to rescind both the final H-2B wage rule and the March 18 H-2B proposed rule! Please call your Senators and Member of Congress today and ask them to sign the below letter that is being circulated by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA).
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By host on
11/9/2011
The Ornamental and Turf Continuing Education Series
for Category 3 License Recertification and Certification
will be conducted as follows.
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November 16 & 17
Doubletree Airport Hotel
(formerly the Radisson)
2150 Veterans Blvd (at Williams)
Kenner, LA 70062 |
Registration begins at 8:00 AM
Class begins promptly at 8:30 AM
For registration information call 225.927.5722
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By host on
11/9/2011
In Loving Memory of
Sigal Marie Burdine Bond Kavanaugh Ory
Mother of John Raymond Kavanaugh
Kilpatrick Funeral Home
Ruston, LA
Services for Sigal Marie Burdine Bond Kavanaugh Ory, age 88 was held Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 11:00A.M. at Kilpatrick Funeral Home in Ruston, LA. Internment followed at Greenwood Cemetery under the direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Home in Ruston.
Born September 14, 1922 in Spring Hill, LA and died June 6, 2011 in Ruston, LA. She was preceded in death by the father of her children, Newton H. Kavanaugh and her second husband, Paul Richard Ory.
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H-2B Alert Update
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LandcareNetwork.org
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July 1, 2011
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Federal court rules new H-2B Wage Rule, effective October 1, 2011
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On June 15, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a ruling that invalidated the January 1, 2012, effective date of the Wage Rule and ordered the Department of Labor (DOL) to announce a new effective date for the rule within 45 days from June 15. The basis for the court’s ruling was twofold: (1) that the almost one-year delay in the effective date was not a “logical outgrowth” of the proposed rule, and therefore was in violation; and (2) that the DOL was wrong in considering hardship to employers when deciding to delay the effective date.
The DOL proposes that the Wage Rule take effect 60 days from the date of publication of a final rule resulting from this rulemaking. It anticipates the date of publication of the final rule to be on or about August 1, 2011; thus, the effective date of the Wage Rule would be on or about October 1, 2011. The Wage Rule will be effective for wages paid to H-2B workers and U.S. workers recruited in connection with an H-2B labor certification for all work performed on or after the new effective date. A 60-day delayed effective date also would provide the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) within the DOL with the time it needs to implement the wage rule, as the OFLC must issue new prevailing wages for approved work performed on or after the new effective date.
In order to accomplish this, the OFLC must identify all certified H-2B applications that contain dates of work to be performed on and after the new effective date of the Wage Rule. This universe of certifications must then be issued new prevailing wage determinations in accordance with the Wage Rule’s methodology. This is a labor-intensive activity, as the OFLC will have to determine and issue the new determinations before the new effective date proposed in this rulemaking for each of these employers. OFLC has determined the universe of applications to be large, and therefore will require the 60-day delayed effective date in order to complete this task.
PLANET recently sent more than 3,500 postcards to all users of the H-2B program, asking them to contact their members of Congress through the PLANET Web site. We were very disappointed with the response. The simple fact is that if you do not contact your representative and senators, they will not do anything to help.
PLANET continues to work with other associations representing industries that rely on the program. However, our industry is the biggest user of the program and must therefore take the major part of the grassroots action. If PLANET members do not use PLANET’s Legislative Action Center to send letters to the Hill, this program may be rendered completely useless for the foreseeable future. We also encourage you to attend Legislative Day on the Hill and go with other members of your state to the Hill with request for help.
Tom Delaney
Director of Government Affairs
Professional Landcare Network (PLANET)
(800) 395-2522
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Professional Landcare Network (PLANET)
950 Herndon Parkway, Suite 450
Herndon, VA 20170
(800) 395-2522 . Fax (703) 736-9668 . LandcareNetwork.org
The association of members who create and maintain the QUALITY OF LIFE in communities across America.
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