Committee advances bill creating landowner liability standard for unregistered farmworker camps

The Senate Committee on Rollers on June 23 advanced House Bill 3194 A to the Senate floor with a do‑pass recommendation. The bill would make landowners jointly and severally liable where they knew or should have known their property was being used as the site of an unregistered farmworker camp, and it raises damages recoverable by an aggrieved person.

Committee staff said the measure creates a rebuttable presumption that a landowner did not know and could not reasonably have known about an unregistered camp if the landowner provides a written lease that expressly prohibits such activity by the lessee or a third party. The staff summary said that presumption can be rebutted by a preponderance of the evidence showing the landowner knew or should have known about the camp. The bill would also expand who an aggrieved person may sue and increase statutory damages from $500 to $2,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater. Staff described the fiscal impact as minimal.

Senator Patrick Bonham told the committee he would give the bill a “courtesy yes” to move it out of committee, noting that farm‑group negotiators had moved from opposition to neutral and that he may nonetheless vote no on the floor. Vice Chair Dunham moved the bill to the floor with a do‑pass recommendation. Recorded roll‑call entries in the transcript show Senators Golden and Manning voting “aye,” Senator Hatcher “no,” Vice Chair O’Connor “aye,” and Chair Chang voting “aye”; the motion passed. The committee named Senator Golden as the floor carrier for the measure.

The transcript does not include testimony from farmworker representatives, landowners, or other outside witnesses on the bill in the excerpts provided. The measure, if enacted, would change civil liability exposure for property owners and could increase statutory damages available to people harmed by operation of unregistered farmworker camps.