California's new overtime laws may tank its sheep industry. That's bad for wildfire season

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (FOX26 NEWS) — Starting January 1st, 2022, overtime laws for agricultural workers are going to change.

That now lumps in people in the sheep, goat, and lamb industries. They'll have to start paying herders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

40 hours of that would be normal pay; 128 of it would be clocked as overtime.

Those workers wouldn't qualify for salary, so there's no way around the new law. People who own sheep ranching companies say it would tank their business, forcing them to lay off workers, reduce their business size, or risk going out of business entirely.

Ryan Indart, the Co-Owner of Indart Sheep Ranching Company, says he would likely have to leave the state.

“The effects and ramifications of this law are already being felt. Ranchers are already selling out, selling sheep. They’re liquidating part or all of their herd.”

Before that, he says he would have to cut half his staff.

“I do not want to get rid of my guys. They’re part of my family," said Indart. "Guys are depending on us, and they’re depending on this industry, which is why we need the governor to fix this problem. And he can do it.”

The ranchers are proposing a 48-hour standard instead, which was created during the Obama administration. 8 hours of that would be overtime.

That standard was upheld in court by the current US Attorney General, Merrick Garland, who at the time was the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Folks in the ranching industry have been trying to get Governor Gavin Newsom's attention to this issue, but so far they've gone unanswered.

Over 100 local lawmakers recently signed on to an open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom about this very issue.

They cited a survey from the Fresno County Farm Bureau that found the law would cause a third of the industry to go out of business entirely.

State Senators Melissa Hurtado and Anna Caballero also partnered up with Fresno County Farm Bureau CEO Ryan Jacobsen to write an opinion article on the issue, which you can read here.

Emilio Leon has been herding for Indart’s family for 25 years.

He says sheep herders work around 4 hours a day in the Summer and around 12 in the winter.

“24 hours payment, I think that’s not right," said Leon. “Nobody can survive with such kind of regulations.”

Leon was hoping to branch out and branch out and start his own sheep ranching business.

“Everything was okay until the state regulations comes up. That stopped me."

There's another side effect of all this: wildfire risk.

The animals' grazing helps reduce the fuel load on the ground, so that wildfires don't spread as rapidly.

Andrée Soares, the President of Star Creek Land Stewards Inc. says her animals have grazed around schools, solar panels, fire roads, and more.

“We’re able to get into places where you can’t get fire crews, where you can’t get hand crews, and we’re able to do it on steep slopes. As you know, many homes and neighborhoods have been built into places we’re learning now might not have been the best spot to be," said Soares.

Soares says she would be okay with the herders' payment changing a bit, but she believes the way the law is written now, it would not be sustainable.

“They’re living on-site with the animals, so if something happens in the middle of the night and they hear it, they’re going to get up and respond. They’re going to do something. It’s like being on call. However, the state has not imposed an on-call rate, which is most states is substantially less than their hourly rate.”

If nothing changes, that new law will kick into effect January 1st of 2022.