After more than a year, effort to update Virginia's migrant labor camp rules moves forward

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Virginia Mercury

Effort to update Virginia’s migrant labor camp rules moves forward and more state headlines
BY: STAFF REPORT - NOVEMBER 22, 2024 5:05 AM

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TAKING ACTION
After more than a year, effort to update Virginia’s migrant labor camp rules moves forward



Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin listens as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Salem Civic Center, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Salem, Va. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

by: Dean Mirshahi
Posted: Nov 21, 2024 / 04:37 PM EST
Updated: Nov 21, 2024 / 04:53 PM EST

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – After 455 days, the office created by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to “streamline regulatory management” finished its review of a notice to change Virginia’s outdated rules for migrant labor camps.

The notice approved by Virginia’s Office of Regulatory Management and the governor’s office on Nov. 15 isn’t the new regulations advocates say are desperately needed for the thousands of migrant workers who play essential roles in Virginia’s agricultural and fishing industries.

It’s just part of the first stage in a three-stage process to update the rules, which haven’t been thoroughly reviewed in over 20 years and were recommended to change in 2022.

Virginia’s rules for these camps aim to ensure migrant workers live in safe and healthy conditions while at the camps, setting standards for general maintenance, water supply requirements and other guidelines.

The 455-day gap between the start of the review and approval of the notice – known as a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action (NOIRA) — is far longer than recent notice reviews by the regulatory management office, per an 8News analysis of 86 regulatory actions that underwent NOIRA reviews.

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[underpants]

1. Don't know about the Valley, peanut/soy country, but the Eastern Shore has always had a lot of migrant labor

The chicken houses in the Valley at one point (90’s) had a significant amount of refugees. Doctors, lawyers, architects, etc who faced language barriers to getting certified here basically gave up their careers just to get their families here. Or at least out of where they were. I heard an NPR report back then that Harrisonburg schools had well over 100 languages or dialects being spoken in them.