Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill, Wednesday, requiring overtime pay for ag workers after eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Current laws require overtime after 10 hours per day.
In a statement, the governor said the bill would hurt California businesses, increase unemployment, and lower wages.
State Senator Dean Florez authored the bill. He issued a statement saying, quote "the governor had a chance to make history... Instead he has decided to use his pen in the spirit of the politicians of the segregationist south who pushed to discriminate against the least protected members of our society."
But not everyone feels that way.
"Maybe Dean Florez needs to look in the mirror in the accusations he makes against our industry but even our governor of being a racist. The governor is not a racist and neither is our industry," said Manuel Cunha president of the Nisei Farmers League.
Florez also called the veto a double whammy for immigrants citing Arizona's immigration law.
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Family, farms, and ranches continue to dominate the nation's agricultural landscape.
The U.S. Agriculture Department reports, family-owned businesses account for 98-percent farms and ranches across the country. Those family farms handle about 82-percent of farm production.
The report says nearly 90-percent of farms and ranches are small farms, while 10-percent of larger-scale farms account for most production.
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Farmers and ranchers are having a hard time planning for the future.
Congress has not come up with a new estate tax. Lawmakers have to do it before next year or it will return to the pre-2001 rate of a $1-million exemption for individuals with the balance taxed at 55-percent. Farm organizations say returning to the previous estate tax levels would cripple a family's ability to pass a farm or ranch to the next generation.