Whats New

AmericanHort is pleased to announce those serving on the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee for 2019. The Committee, which advises the AmericanHort Board and staff on legislative, regulatory, and other policy priorities, held a virtual organizing meeting on February 21, in expectation of a busy year of both challenges and opportunities. Serving on this year’s committee are: 
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In employment and workforce-related news, the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division is expected during March to propose a new salary threshold for its so-called “white collar” exemptions from overtime pay. Wage & Hour is expected to propose that workers who earn less than $35,000 a year automatically eligible for overtime pay for all hours beyond 40 a week. <...

AmericanHort and our foundation, the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), joined with co-founders of the National Pollinator Garden Network and others to announce the achievement of the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge. The goal of a million gardens to help sustain the health of diverse pollinator populations was not only achieved, but it was also exceeded. Here are a few of the key metri...

Author: Tal Coley and Craig Regelbrugge
 
The Senate voted 52-47 to confirm Andrew Wheeler as Secretary of the Environmental Protection Agency on February 28. AmericanHort supported Wheeler’s nomination, signing a support letter in January addressed to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. More than 30 other organizations also signed the letter. 
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Authors: Craig Regelbrugge and Laurie Flanagan
 
H-2B Cap Hit – On February 22, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the H-2B cap for the second half of FY 2019 was reached on February 19. According to USCIS, it used a computer-generated process, or lottery, to determine ...

Andrew Wheeler, the acting EPA Administrator, looks to be on track to be approved as the permanent Administrator. AmericanHort recently joined a group of 30+ organizations to urge the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to quickly confirm his nomination. Wheeler’s experience as a career EPA employee and time spent as staff director and legal counsel of the Senate committee with ...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) continues to issue final regulations relating to the tax reform package that was passed at the end of 2017. In mid-January, the IRS issued some final regulations for section 199A, which pertains to some in our industry.  
 
AmericanHort members enjoy the benefits of our partnership with K-Coe Is...

Authors: Jill Calabro, PhD, & Craig Regelbrugge

With the new spending agreement signed into law, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is allocating $66 million to support 407 projects that will strengthen the nation’s infrastructure for pest detection and surveillance, identification, threat mitigation, and safeguard the nursery production system. USDA provides fun...

In a recent daily blog post, economist Elliott Eisenberg reported that as of December 31, 2018, there were a record 7.335 million job openings, and 6.294 million unemployed persons, or 1.17 jobs for every unemployed person, the ninth consecutive month openings have exceeded the unemployed. Relatedly, the number of job openings has exceeded the number hired since January 2015. The number of open...

The chlorpyrifos debate continues, as the Ninth Circuit Court granted EPA’S request to rehear the case en banc. This means that the Chief Judge and a panel of ten randomly drawn judges will rehear the case in late March. The prior, three-judge panel decision will not be cited as a precedent in any court moving forward. 
 
The three-judge panel decided...