Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §872 is enacted to read:

§872.__Prevailing wage required for certification of

unavailability of domestic workers

The Commissioner of Labor may not certify to the United States Department of Labor that no citizens of the United States are qualified for or willing to fill a job opening in a forestry occupation, for the purposes of allowing an employer to fill that job opening with a person who has been classified under 8 United States Code, Section 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) and granted permission to work temporarily in the United States, if:

1.__Use own equipment.__The person that the employer seeks to hire is to use the person's own equipment to perform the job; and

2.__No federal prevailing wage.__The United States Department of Labor, Division of Foreign Labor Certification has not established a Service Contract Act prevailing wage for persons performing that occupation with their own equipment.

SUMMARY

This bill prohibits the Department of Labor from certifying to the United States Department of Labor that no U.S. citizens are qualified for or willing to fill a job opening in a forestry occupation, for the purpose of allowing an employer to hire a foreign worker to fill that job opening under what is commonly known as an "H-2B visa," if the job would require the worker to use the worker's own equipment and if the U.S. Department of Labor's Division of Foreign Labor Certification has not established a prevailing wage for workers performing that job using the workers' own equipment.