Crops, sugar processing, forestry, livestock, Restaurant Industry and others. This would leave the United States and the state of louisiana no alternative but to import many Food Products for food countries, from countries with surplus foreign labor. This is unacceptable. We must do everything in our power to grow and support americas jobs and economy. Were asking for your help. We must streamline and expedite the h2b process. We need a working system without overburdensome rules, unrealistic timetables and outright road blocks. Neglecting the labor needs of agriculture will raise the cost and the production in a way that harms farmers, fishers and industries throughout america. I appreciate your time and encourage you to work with us to find workable solutions. Ways that we can facilitate rather than making it so difficult to where our processors and our industries cannot operate. Where were at currently, we have a large crawfish harvest. And we dont have enough peelers to process it. And that puts us in a severe economic state, and im sure mr. Randall will address that, as well. Thank you. Thank you very much, dr. Strain. Well now go to john connolly. Welcome. Thank you, chairman vitter, for inviting the National Fisheries institute to present our views today. Our comments will involve a brief introduction. The economics of the american seafood industry and the seafood Safety System and the results. The nations most comprehensive trade association, our members include harvesters like those on deadliest catch, importers who enable us to enjoy seafood around the globe. To processors that put fish in a form consumers recognize, to retailers and restaurants. We do represent all geographic regions, and we are particularly proud to have had the late louisiana seafood leader of motivated seafood as our chairman. On h2b visas, essential to Seafood Processors. Senator mikulski captured many of the senators concerns in a letter last week. Quote, the lack of available temporary Foreign Workers has caused chaos among businesses in maryland that depend on the h2b program. More than 40 of marylands Seafood Processors have been unable to get the workers they need for the 2015 crab season. I think dr. Strain pretty much said it all. And i think thats reflective of the rest of the Seafood Community in the u. S. On economics, seafood is the most globally traded food commodities. That benefits our fishing communities as we send highquality and bountiful american seafood to northern asia and throughout europe. Also benefits the more than 525,000 americans that process, distribute and sell imported seafood. Those jobs found in nearly every state, an important reminder that trade benefits the u. S. Not just when we export. Seafood trade also benefit farm states in two ways. 18 of all soy goes into fish farms, many of those fish farms in asia. And to the countries with which American Farmers increasingly seek to send our ag products, are countries that export seafood to america. We cannot expect to open asian markets to u. S. Pork beef poultry if we shut off access to our seafood markets. Seafood safety. A strong supporter in word and deed. Worked closely with academia to best implement. Nfi works with the alliance for a stronger fda to urge congress to for the agency to meet statutory obligations. As dr. Sullivan fully described, i will not duplicate that discussion. I will close, though, speaking to results. Results afterall, what matters. The centers for Disease Control analyzed illnesses from all foods. Over the fiveyear period ending in 2010, cdc found that 141 of 122,000 that is 0. 001156 or 0. 12 illnesses caused by imported seafood. Most of us love baseball. Great day to be out for the nats game. But we recall going to the games with our dads. Hoping to clutch that mitt and catch that foul ball. Unfortunately, we often came home crest fallen because we rarely ever did. The chance of catching the foul ball. 0. 001156 or 0. 12 . As an example of effectiveness of fda and while this is the hearing focus not only the fda captures program, i did want to acknowledge the leadership of senator shaheen and ayotte and others on this committee working in a bipartisan manner to eliminate a program that usdas own risk experts said will not improve public health. Both domestic and imported has reduced illnesses to less than two per year. A safe product. It is because of the stringent requirements, a system required for both domestic and imported seafood. A system that requires problems to be fixed thousands of miles away from america not caught at the border. That congress exempted companies from some of the key provisions. Nfi agrees with congress determination. Thank you. Thank you very much. And now well hear from mr. Frank randall. Frank, welcome. Thank you, chairman vitter. There we go, again. Thank you. And for the members not here. Ranking member shaheen, senator carden. Thank you for inviting me to testify about the guest worker program. The program is a vital part of the survival, is this program is a vital is vital. This program is vital for the survival of seafood processing, especially in louisiana and maryland. The program, this program excuse me, just let me go. Sure. Its vital. I will submit my statements for the record. In addition to a number of exhibits that will provide a use of reference for the committee. Ill now provide oral comments. Im here to express my concerns for the future of my business and other Small Businesses that struggle daily. To succeed. I started at randalls in 1971, very small, one man, one truck. After four decades theyre grown in size and scope, transitioning to the next generation. The future is in my sons that work my business allowing me to pull back. Hurdles over the last four years were detailed by the commissioner. Floods, hurricanes, oil spills, lack of product, imports from china. But the single most pressing issue has been the lack of labor. 1970s when i started my business i was lucky enough to have the refugees from vietnam come in. Brought in roughly 40 to help us get through that time. Over the course of the years, came to the 1990s, that started to wayne a little bit. We discovered the h2b program and started to bring in the guest workers from mexico. Started with 40, dwindled to 30, now were at 25. Im here to talk about the h2b guest worker program. The legal, legal temporary workers. To support farming, fishing, restaurants, wholesale and retail operations. The attached decorations ive submitted from dr. Strain filed in our suit of 2011 against the department of labor gives an overview of the importance of the h2b program to the louisiana economy. H2b application process has been a growing and expensive challenge since took over the initial wage certification from the state in 2008, the process has become increasingly more time consuming and costly. Initially, i did the paperwork myself. But now had to turn it over to someone else qualified to more qualified to run through the governmental hoops. Many people are using legal or international, international immigrant immigration attorneys. Immigration attorneys. The stack of paperwork represents, was submitted on the application for the first cap. For the second, itd be twice that stack. We missed both caps. Our plant was scheduled to open february, 2015, were still waiting to see if we can salvage part of it. Last year we were processing 6,000 to 8,000 pounds of seafood daily. Right now were shuttered. Often we hear the remark, if you pay more money, youll get the labor you need. We feel that isnt the case. Its more about the job than the money in our seafood industry. After missing the cap, both caps, we tried something different. Seven prison trustees after one day. One trustee said id rather go back to jail than peel crawfish. The warden picked him up, brought him back, we didnt see him again. The remaining trustees continued to shrink until after a twoweek effort they were all gone. Now Union Activity starts to increase and create problems for us. And, recently the nlrb has surfaced in getting involved. We have referenced this in documents that we brought as exhibits. We need urgently we need fixes to save the program for Small Businesses. Congress has to take action now. Lost opportunity to fix the problems last year have already done severe harm in louisiana. Some louisiana Small Business will not recover, others may be forced to cross the border. As in the past, we need immediate congressional action to block the new dhs and dol proposals of last wednesday. The Workforce Coalition submitted a statement we attached as an exhibit. In addition, we need to resume the returning worker exemption from the annual cap. We also have to return the authority of determining prevailing wages to the states. Additionally, we feel we need a seat at the table with dol. Just like the National Guest workers alliance. The office of advocacy needs to be more aggressive in confronting dhs and dol as policy changes are being discussed. And, you know, part of what came up today as we listen to the testimony is what we have been hearing is that somehow whats happening was caused by industry. We just dont see it that way. Were small people, but we do know no matter where it was caused or somehow, when Something Like this happens, if theres an error or whatever, people that make the error still have their jobs. But in our case, were small. We dont survive. Theres some got to give and take thats got to take place here. And thats really why im here. Somebody had to come up and tell you about whats going on back home. The little guys that are having problems. Some big guys have the same problem. Hershey expressed these problems in 2007 on to 2011 when they decided to open up the monterey mexico. And most of the growth already funneled into that plant for their american chocolate is now the americas chocolate. We have one right here. We have one in louisiana, largest employer. Uses h2b. Missed the cap. And hes struggling. Hes trying to make his orders for this year. Small business. Hes up against im not saying this is good chocolate, needs to stay home. Id be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thanks very much, frank. Lets start with you since you offer such a great world perspective. I know you touched on it in your testimony. Walk through the specific concrete impact to your business that the various recent department of labor changes and rulings have had. Number one. Number two, if you have any reaction so far. It may be too new, maybe you dont, but if you have any reaction so far of the new department of labor guidance moving forward on wage surveys. Let me start, its more of the same. As i see from dol. Weve reviewed this stuff. Its stuff that dont work. Program rules, 75 guarantee. Got to turn them back, got to pay them. That doesnt work in louisiana. As far as the parity, if i pay one person this, other person has to be paid the same. In the seafood, we pay for productivity. We might bring them in at entry level, but give the incentives through piece work. They accelerate, get better, might enter at a nominal rate. But a lot of people get up to these larger rates 12 to 15 an hour. Peeling craw fish. Thats attainable. Just to take those two examples. As far as you know, is any of that mandated by statutory law . Or is it just a creation of the department of labor. A creation. Yall write the laws, they interpret the laws and we try to say thats not what you meant. You saw me up here in 06, it was easy to predict to see where we were going. That was when i first came to discuss this. The pain is in reality. And the pain to me, i feel it because im in it and i cant get out of it. We got through the process, missed the first cap. Ive been at this for half a year trying to make a deadline. I can always start four months before i need them. Four months, and ive been at it for six months. And im still not in the last step, which would gain me access in six weeks to bring them in. The real lifting at the border to determine whether these people really need to come in. You know, weve demonstrated we dont have the workforce here. Frank, if i can interrupt, if i can just through the record ask miss wu. We talked about two specific requirements that you mentioned are flat out unworkable in the real world from your perspective. So if you could submit for the record any statutory basis that requires the department of labor to do that. Because from what i see, there is none. Thank you. Go ahead, frank. A lot of this stuff in the coalition paper. What comes to mind is open up a job order that starts four months out, and you have to take it 20 days to where these people are coming inside of the country. And leave it open. Normally, you know, weve demonstrated there are no people that want this job. But, you know, these are just some of the few. And what ive offered to dol is, the nga is apparently has their ear. Lets let Small Business somehow be in the process so that we dont see the results of a mandate, but we have a team effort to try to move forward. When they impose these things, we feel the pain. A lot of people go out of business. Right. Let me ask, both you and dr. Strain if you have any specific reaction yet to their new guidance about allowing private, including state surveys. Is it workable . Is it not . Is it reasonable . Is it too narrow . Do you have any reaction yet . The reaction i have is that weve been using the prevailing wage rate surveys. Mr. Chairman, weve been using the state prevailing wage rate surveys for many years. And when you look at the final rule, it says they will be used in limited exceptions. And so now we have several different methodologies to determine a wage rate. Simply, let us continue to use the wage rate rule. If you look at the seafood industry and the crawfish industry, the state prevailing wage rate as determined by the Lsu Ag Center and my office, 8. 66. Thats a floor. But theyre also paid on piecemeal. And you have some you have workers that make 12, 15, 18 an hour. Depending on production, this sets a minimum wage. Lets not, if you look at what is in the interim rule there, its complicated. We need to simplify this. Okay. And dr. Strain, i also wanted to touch on my imported seafood safety. We worked on it together, it would give states more power to increase seafood inspections for foreign imports. Yes. In conjunction with the federal government. Weve talked about this before, essentially empowering you to reinforce the effort of the federal government to put more cops on the beat. We do this in many other areas where the primary regulation is at the federal level. But related state entities can help enforce that. What is your view on that . And how it could improve seafood safety . Mr. Chairman. The American Public, when they go to the market, 100 of the proteins for beef and pork, and 99 for poultry, theres a special, a specialty thing for poultry if you have a very small amount, less than 10 chickens, you can sell them, its very tiny. But all of those proteins are inspected. They are monitored from the farm all the way through slaughter, they expect that slaughter and tested and back traced. The American Public believes their seafood they consume is inspected and safe at that same level. If you look at the cdc report and im going to quote the press release march 14 2012, it says we currently import about 85 of our seafood, 65 of our produce. And we currently import reviewed outbreaks from the food born disease outbreak Surveillance System from 2005 to 2010. 248 illnesses were linked to imported food from 15 countries. Of those outbreaks, 17 half occurred in 09 and 10. Overall fish, 17 outbreaks were the most Common Source of implicated. Foodborne disease outbreaks, followed by spices. Nearly 45 of imported foods causing outbreaks came from asia. The American Public assumes we are doing this testing. We know were not. Less than 3 of the imported seafood. 85 of the seafood consumes in the United States is imported and less than 3 is being tested. Furthermore, when you look at that particular issue, if you look in a container of seafood there could be in the case of crawfish, there could be up to 20 different lots. 20 different lots, different origins coming together. So when you think that its all a blended product and you take one sample and it is consistent with everything in the container, it is not. And when you look at the particular issues that were talking about, were talking about antibiotics that are banned from the United States such as clonefenacol. Chemicals such as malachite green that are banned from the United States. So when you look at that, it is imperative we all be on the same level playing field. And when you Start Talking about why we need to test this seafood and you say, well, how are we going to stop port shopping, well, its very simple. Is that we need to make sure we have eyes on at the processing level in those Foreign Countries and i think some of that will take into effect in the future under the food safety modernization act. But that is somewhere in the future. And that container will be accompanied by a certificate stating it has been tested. And if that container comes in and you retest that container and it is not what it says, then it can either return directly and be certified to go back to the country of origin or be destroyed on site. Now, our department, im responsible, i oversee the department of Animal Health and food safety. We have a food inspection program. We also work hand in hand with the usda, Animal Plant Health inspection service, to where we do joint meat inspection, we do state plants and we can work jointly on federal plants where those products can cross state lines. But i am not permitted to test imported seafood. Now, i can look at the containers to make sure that and i as the commissioner of the office of metrology, weights, measures and standards, that if theres a pound of seafood in there ther