No kidding: California overtime law threatens use of grazing goats to prevent wildfires

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And overtime law in California could threaten the use of grazing goats to prevent wildfires. The park supervisor in West Sacramento, Jason Pablo, uses hundreds of goats to munch on long blades of yellow grass in the city. Essentially, mow those down to reduce the fire risk for the upcoming dry season. But new state labor regulations in California are making it more expensive for goat grazing services like Tim Aerosmith's company to operate. We can not fix the current legislation. We will be forced to sell these goats to slaughter and to the option yards. And we'll be forced out of business and probably filed for bankruptcy. Goat herders would be subject to the same labor laws as other farm workers. Hundreds of millions of dollars has been spent on putting out fires, very little has been spent on fire prevention. The changes at goat grazing workers would be entitled to overtime. I'm Ed Donahue.

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