Batt Wants Workers’ Comp For Farmers Bill, Which Would End The Current Exemption, Was Soundly Defeated Last Session

Gov. Phil Batt on Friday unveiled his bill to make workers’ compensation coverage mandatory for farm employees, and said he will not allow his plan to be diluted.

The bill announced by the governor at a news conference also contains good news for small employers. The minimum premium they must pay for workers’ compensation could fall as much as half.

Batt, a Wilder farmer, is pushing for an end to Idaho agriculture’s long exemption from the law requiring almost all other employers to provide workers’ compensation insurance to their employees. Idaho is among 14 states that do not require coverage for farm workers.

The governor met Friday with a roomful of agriculture representatives to outline his proposal, then announced it at a news conference. He promised an all-out effort to pass legislation that the Legislature has rejected eight times previously, most recently last year.

Sen. David Kerrick of Caldwell, the Republican floor leader, said the Batt measure will be introduced next week in the Senate Commerce and Human Resources Committee. Kerrick will be the Senate floor sponsor.

Meanwhile, the eight Senate Democrats introduced their own workers’ compensation bill Friday. A third measure was introduced in the House earlier in the week by Rep. Mark Stubbs, R-Twin Falls.

And the Idaho Hispanic Caucus issued a statement Friday praising efforts to remove the farm exemption.

“We applaud the continued commitment expressed by Gov. Phil Batt to remove the farmworker exemption,” caucus President Ernesto Sanchez said. “We are cautiously optimistic that progress will be made on this issue this year.”

Batt said he got little negative response to his proposal in his meeting with farm interests.

“I didn’t detect strong opposition,” he said. “There was no reaction. There was no real animosity or resentment toward it.”

But the Idaho Farm Bureau has successfully lobbied against the legislation in the past, last session winning a smashing 47-23 victory in the House to kill a bill approved by its own Human Resources Committee.

Batt vowed a major effort to get the bill approved this year.

As a farmer, he said he can understand the reluctance of farmers to add any expense.

“I do not in any way blame farmers for watching every penny,” he said.

But Batt said he has carried workers’ compensation insurance for his workers for the last 45 years. Although there have been many accidents over the years, he has never been sued over them.