CONGRESS: Memorializes the United States Congress, the President of the United States, the United States Department of Labor, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the Louisiana Congressional Delegation to take all necessary and appropriate actions to pass the H-2B Certified Seasonal Employer Designation and reclassify all job duties of the crawfish industry as agricultural labor services for purposes of the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program.

ENROLLED
2026 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 77
BY REPRESENTATIVES BUTLER, AMEDEE, BAGLEY, BOUDREAUX, BOYD,
BRAUD, BROUSSARD, CHASSION, COATES, DEWITT, DICKERSON,
ECHOLS, EGAN, FISHER, HEBERT, HORTON, TRAVIS JOHNSON, MILLER,
SAWYER, SCHAMERHORN, WALTERS, WYBLE, AND ZERINGUE AND
SENATORS ALLAIN, BASS, CATHEY, EDMONDS, FESI, HENRY, JACKSON-
ANDREWS, MILLER, TALBOT, WHEAT, AND WOMACK
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To memorialize the United States Congress, the President of the United States, the United
States Department of Labor, the United States Department of Homeland Security,
and the Louisiana Congressional Delegation to take all necessary and appropriate
actions to pass the H-2B Certified Seasonal Employer Designation and reclassify all
job duties of the crawfish industry as agricultural labor services for purposes of the
H-2A Temporary Agricultural Worker Program.
WHEREAS, the H-2B visa program is a seasonal, guest-worker program that allows
our state’s seasonal employers, primarily crawfish processors and landscapers, to bring in
guest-workers on a temporary basis to supplement their operations and support their
American workers during their peak seasons; and
WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2025, approximately eight thousand one hundred sixty-
three H-2B positions were certified in Louisiana, of which over three thousand one hundred
thirty-eight were in crawfish and seafood processing occupations and over two thousand
were in landscaping; and
WHEREAS, studies show that each H-2B worker supports between 3.2 and 4.6 jobs
for American workers, and the H-2B visa program supports over twenty-five thousand jobs
in Louisiana; and
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WHEREAS, studies show the crawfish industry contributes over three hundred
million dollars to the Louisiana economy annually while the green industry contributes over
two billion dollars; and
WHEREAS, a recent survey by Unleash Prosperity shows that, due to the insufficient
number of visas and the processing delays, close to half of seasonal H-2B employers do not
expect to be profitable in 2026, including most of our state's crawfish processors and
landscapers, making this an urgent threat to the Louisiana economy; and
WHEREAS, crawfish production and landscaping in Louisiana is highly seasonal and
labor intensive, requiring a reliable and timely workforce during peak harvest and processing
periods; and
WHEREAS, handling, weighing, washing, grading, processing, peeling, packaging,
and freezing of crawfish for sale are fundamentally tied to aquacultural production, forming
a continuous chain of timely executed operations essential for moving the product from farm
to market; and
WHEREAS, due to the temporary and seasonal nature of the crawfish harvest and
of the landscaping industry, job postings are often left vacant due to a shortage of readily
available, able, willing, and qualified domestic workers; and
WHEREAS, both the H-2A program and the Certified Seasonal Employer
Designation could account for this domestic labor shortage while not displacing or adversely
affecting domestic workers or wages; and
WHEREAS, to employ workers under the H-2A program, an employer is required
to provide domestic workers, including H-2A workers, with adequate housing,
transportation, and meals, and pay wages in accordance with the current Adverse Effect
Wage Rate, as determined by the United State Department of Labor; and
WHEREAS, the Certified Seasonal Employer Designation requires employers to
have participated in the H-2B program for the last five years and have no history of labor
violations; and
WHEREAS, the Certified Seasonal Employer Designation rewards employers who
have a long-standing record of following the United States immigration laws; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana’s crawfish and landscaping employers are facing increasing
competition from employers entering the H-2B program after previously hiring illegal aliens,
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with demand for the H-2B program having increased by seventy percent over the past five
years and by eight percent year-over-year; and
WHEREAS, despite the seasonality and agricultural nature of Louisiana's crawfish
industry, current federal regulations classify job duties involving crawfish processing and
related work as nonagricultural, restricting employers to the oversubscribed and highly
competitive H-2B Temporary Non-agricultural Workers Program; and
WHEREAS, the H-2B program's limited visa cap, unpredictable supplemental visa
allotments, and lengthy processing delays have caused severe workforce shortages in
Louisiana's crawfish and landscaping industries, resulting in limited processing capacity,
financial losses, and significant disruptions across the supply chain, largely due to
administrative rulemaking regarding visa certifications, job duty classifications, and
supplemental visa distributions; and
WHEREAS, the H-2A program is specifically designed to meet seasonal agricultural
labor needs; and
WHEREAS, classifying all job duties performed by a crawfish worker, including but
not limited to fishing, baiting, handling, weighing, washing, grading, tagging, cleaning,
processing, peeling, packaging, freezing, and preparation of crawfish for sale as agricultural
labor would bring federal policy into alignment with the operational reality of crawfish
farming and would stabilize the workforce that Louisiana's crawfish industry depends on;
and
WHEREAS, ensuring an adequate, legal, and dependable labor supply is vital to the
survival of Louisiana's crawfish farmers, processors, landscapers, and associated rural
economies.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
memorialize the United States Congress, the President of the United States, the United States
Department of Labor, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and the
Louisiana Congressional Delegation to take all necessary and appropriate actions to pass the
H-2B Certified Seasonal Employer Designation and reclassify all job duties of the crawfish
industry as agricultural labor services for purposes of the H-2A Temporary Agricultural
Worker Program.
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that reclassification should include revisions to
federal statutes, regulations, or administrative interpretations, as needed, to ensure that
Louisiana crawfish producers and processors will be able to utilize the H-2A program to
meet their essential seasonal workforce needs immediately and that long-standing, compliant
users of the H-2B program be designated as certified seasonal employers.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Department of Labor, the
United States Center for Immigration Services and the Department of State should take
immediate action to improve H-2B processing times, including reinstating interview waivers
for returning H-2B workers.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the action to reclassify the job duties of the
crawfish industry as agricultural labor services be taken expeditiously, with emergency
measures implemented to ensure the timely processing of the H-2A visas and to meet the
labor demands of the 2026 crawfish season.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the
President of the United States, the secretary of the United States Department of Labor, the
secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the majority and minority
leaders of the United States Senate, the speaker and minority leader of the United States
House of Representatives, and each member of the Louisiana Congressional Delegation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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