SALEM — A worker’s right to refuse work could be the next regulation facing Oregon farm employers, who in recent years have implemented rules and procedures around heat and smoke exposure and agricultural overtime.

Rocky Dallum, a public policy strategist with Tonkon Torp and a contract lobbyist for Oregonians for Food and Shelter, said farm labor issues, including the right to refuse work, are likely to be prominent in the Oregon Legislature during the 2023 session that kicks off next month.

He spoke to the Oregon Seed League Annual Meeting Dec. 5 in Salem.

Under the concept, farmworkers will gain the right to refuse to work if they deem conditions unsafe.

“Oregon OSHA has been working on heat and smoke rules the last couple of years,” Dallum said. “This is the next phase.

“Farmworkers would have the right and ability to say we think that it is not safe to work, so we’re not going to come to work,” Dallum said. “And that could be for anything from an ice storm to fire and heat.”

Dallum said the agricultural overtime issue, which cleared the Legislature in February of this year, “is a done deal.” But, he said, “I think you are going to see a lot of our organizations continue to talk to legislators about revisiting it.”

Dallum said he has heard that some legislators are thinking of changing how farmers are compensated for paying overtime.

“There are Democratic legislators who pledged to put cash grants up front, so that people can get money to pay those labor costs, rather than wait two years to get their tax credits,” Dallum said.

“We are hoping to get that money in the door,” he said.

Dallum said he also expects to see bills banning the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide, this session.

“Glyphosate seems to be the popular product that advocates want to focus on right now,” Dallum said. “We’ve met with some legislators who said they expect there might be a bill to ban glyphosate.”

Dallum said to look for water issues to surface, as well.

“There are conversations and several concepts coming around protecting drinking water,” he said. “How that comes together immediately or down the road is something we will be working on and watching.”

Among activities that could be affected by new groundwater regulations are use of fertilizers and pesticides, he said.

“I am not here just to deliver bad news,” Dallum said. “It is a challenging political climate. But it may have got slightly better where we have a few more friendly faces in the Legislature that might be able to help us.”

Democrats have lost their supermajority in the House and Senate, Dallam said, but still hold a 17-12 advantage in the Senate, with Independent Sen. Brian Boquist of Dallas, who typically votes Republican, also in the chamber.

The House moved from a 37-23 advantage for Democrats in 2022 to a 34-26 advantage for Democrats this next session.

And, Dallum said, 22 of Oregon’s 90 legislators will be new in 2023, providing an opportunity to educate fresh faces on the importance of agriculture to the state’s economy and identity.

“We are getting close to almost a third of turnover when we walk into the Capitol and they get sworn in in the second week of January,” he said.

“We have to reeducate completely on how the Department of Agriculture works, how the Department of Environmental Quality works, what is the role of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and how it works with the ag and natural resources community,” he said.

“The opportunity in that is it allows us to reeducate, start the deck fresh with a lot of folks, particularly coming after a contentious election cycle,” he said.

Among proactive efforts the farm lobby expects to bring forward in 2023 is to appropriate more funding for Oregon State University’s statewide public services, Dallum said.

“OSU has a relatively robust and ambitious Extension request,” Dallum said. “We know we have farmers around the state who rely and work with those Extension stations, so that is one of the budget issues we will be working on.”

The seed league’s annual meeting Dec. 5-6 at the Salem Convention Center drew a record number of attendees, said executive director Bryan Ostlund.

“We had more than 525 registered attendees, so that was fantastic,” he said. “Our exhibit area remains sold out. It was tremendous support from the industry and it was great to see.”