A bill being aggressively opposed by California dairymen and other ag industry representatives died in the state Assembly Thursday.

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AB 2757, which sought to repeal a longstanding law allowing California agriculture businesses to pay overtime to workers after 10 hours of work, was defeated on the Assembly floor. The bill needed 41 votes to pass and only received 37.

Opponents of the legislation argued it would cut farm worker hours and reduce or eliminate overtime for farmworkers while increasing costs for ag operators, especially dairymen, and hurting overall ag production.

Western United Dairymen, together with representatives of other ag sectors that would have been impacted by the legislation, worked to successfully kill the bill.

Anja Raudabaugh, WUD CEO, credited the legislative win to WUD’s lobbying team in Sacramento, Ed Manning and Brian White of KP Public Affairs, as well as a “major grassroots push from our dairy families and affiliated supporting members. “

“Many other agricultural lobbying firms aided in the success we celebrate,” Raudabaugh said, adding Assembly members received “almost 700 dairy-related phone calls, and 1,500 dairy-related emails expressing concern over the legislation.”

“This was an outstanding effort by Western’s leadership who made the decision to participate heavily in the political process this season,” said Western United Dairymen President Frank Mendonsa.  “We are determined to make a difference in the ability for California’s dairy families to survive this challenging dairy market, and this will help keep more dairies in business.”