Legislative Update on DACA

Update provided by The Corydon Group for IOMA members

We want to alert you to a federal issue that is making its way through the court system that could tremendously impact our industry. The concern stems from a Federal Court Case challenging an immigration policy in place for ten years. In 2012 The US Department of Homeland Security, under President Obama, implemented a policy of not deporting or detaining undocumented youth sixteen or younger. The policy, known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, gave recipients temporary legal status and work authorization. Many early DACA recipients are working adults, with a significant percentage working in our industry. If the courts rule against the policy, the recipients will likely lose their legal status and legal work authorizations.

To make DACA permanent, congress must pass a law. Without legislation, nationally, over 700,000 current DACA recipients and another 250,000 eligible will lose their ability to work legally. There are around 9,000 DACA recipients in Indiana. With the current workforce shortage we are experiencing, removing potentially thousands from the pool of employable people could be devastating.

We are working on a project to encourage Indiana U.S. Senator Todd Young to support legislation to maintain the status of these individuals, allowing them to continue to work. We are working with representatives from the major lawn and landscaping associations (IPLLA, IICC, INLA, ILA) and the Indiana Outdoor Management Alliance (IOMA) to write Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor, which you may see in your newspaper, and letters directly to Sen. Young from each association. However, what really interests elected officials is letters from business owners like you. Writing and emailing a letter couldn’t be easier, and we have provided a guide below to help.

• Address the Senator – Dear Senator Young,

• Introduce yourself and your business

• How long you’ve been in business

• Add any other unique things about your business

• Discuss the struggles you have had in finding and keeping employees or other related concerns or occurrences that further demonstrate your concern and that it is for those reasons that you are asking him to support making DACA status permanent as part of any immigration reform.

• Thank him for his time and consideration.

• Sign the letter

• Put the letter on your letterhead

• Email the letter to Andrew Kossack in Senator Young’s office Andrew_Kossack@Young.Senate.Gov and BCC in email swolff@ thecorydongroup.com

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Rick Haggard, INLA Executive Director

Continued from Page 16; Member Profile

Our weekly team meetings and discussions during those are a big driver in our internal culture and have a ripple effect into the job sites. If for some reason we have to miss a team meeting, things just aren’t the same that week.

Second Nature Experience:

During each team meeting or daily load list meetings we hammer the concept of the “Second Nature Experience.” Messages are cenKtered around the concept of protecting our company image and brand. We stress things such as:

• Being professionals in every aspect of the green industry

• Being professional drivers on the road

• Speaking to customers with professional language and knowledge; as well as other crew members.

• "No-No" Words

• Being educated about best practices in the green industry and about our products we sell

• Be a part of associations/organizations. (The INLA is a great place to start!)

As we all know: we face many challenges in our industry. I won’t tell you them as we all know them - but I will tell you one thing: Protect Your Customers!

Our best approach to doing this is by following these three principles:

*weekly team meetings with employee input

*offer a better service than others

*correct anything that goes wrong and do everything you can to keep them happy!

Article written by Kent Wilhelmus of Second Nature Landscape