Labor Budget Trailer Bill Reprieves Sheep and Goats, Leaves Autonomous Tractors Problem Unsolved
Published Friday, September 4, 2026
On Aug. 31, the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 187 (Assembly Budget Committee), the session-ending employment policy trailer bill, on unanimous votes from both houses. AB 187 is expected to be signed by the governor. The bill includes reenactment of Labor Code Section 2695.4, originally passed in 2023, allowing goat herders to be paid a monthly minimum wage—currently $4,938 per month—plus travel and housing. This provision of the labor code had sunset as of July 1, causing a situation in which goat herders would have to be paid nearly $20,000 per month, virtually guaranteeing goats—and probably sheep managed alongside goats—would be unavailable for employment to conduct wildfire fuels control through prescribed grazing. As reenacted on AB 187, sheep and goat wage parity will be in place until Jan. 1, 2029.
Missing from AB 187 was a compromise measure that would have allowed the use of autonomous agricultural equipment by revising outdated Cal/OSHA standards requiring a human driver to operate self-propelled equipment in agricultural workplaces. As a result, California remains the only state to prohibit the use of such equipment, and it does so only in agricultural workplaces. Language agreed upon by agricultural employers and legislative leaders would have allowed the use of such equipment statewide across the agricultural industry and required reporting on its use, including any injuries or incidents involving the equipment and any resulting employee displacement. Labor opposition appears to have doomed this compromise.
Staff contact: Bryan Little, blittle@cfbf.com.
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