FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- California farmworkers employed through the federal H-2A guest worker program, along with local employees performing the same work, will see a wage increase under a new law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 2646 establishes a minimum hourly wage of $19.75 for covered agricultural workers, raising pay for H-2A farmworkers from $16.90 an hour beginning Jan. 1. The law also applies to corresponding domestic workers employed alongside them.

Supporters of the measure say it restores a wage floor that was previously reduced and will help some of California's lowest-paid workers. Agricultural groups and growers, however, warn the increase could raise production costs and create unintended consequences for farms already facing higher expenses.

"These are the lowest-paid workers in the most expensive state here in California," said Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, during an assembly floor reading on the bill. "This is a very modest bill that restores farmworker pay at $19.75 an hour. I've been told by many farmers that they actually pay more than this. Indeed, this is simply a restoration of the floor. This is not a wage. This is a bottom-line wage that'll help our farmworkers who bring so much to California."

Krell also argued that many agricultural workers continue to struggle financially.

"But the truth of the matter is that those who are doing the hard work, waking up before dawn, and working on those farms are barely getting...

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