Gov. Janet Mills on Tuesday signed a bill into law that requires agricultural workers be paid at least the state minimum wage.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, is similar to one proposed last year by Mills. That effort fell short after lawmakers passed an amended version and Mills vetoed it.

Under existing law, Maine farmhands can earn as little as $7.25 an hour. That is the federal minimum wage, which has not been raised since 2009.

Once the new law takes effect, farmhands must earn at least the state minimum wage, which is currently $14.65 an hour and increases automatically with inflation.

Advocates, who have been pushing for the bill for years, celebrated the signing in a news release.

Talbot Ross said that the law is a “long overdue step towards justice” and corrects “a legacy of exclusion rooted in racism that denied protections to Black, Brown, Latino, and Indigenous laborers.”

“Today, Maine made history,” Talbot Ross said. “This moment belongs to the workers who have spoken out for years — often unheard and unseen — demanding the most basic rights and dignity. Today, we say to them: ‘We see you. We value your work. You belong fully under Maine law.'”

Heather Spalding, deputy director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, said her organization is “thrilled that Maine is taking this step toward social justice and correcting an error on the law books.”

“This is a bare-bones policy to protect the people who carry out physically demanding tasks, for long hours in all kinds of weather to ensure that we have food on our tables,” Spalding said.

Republicans largely opposed the bill, warning that it could put farms out of business and jeopardize piecework, where workers get paid by the amount of crops they harvest as opposed to hourly wages.

The bill mirrors a proposal put forward by a diverse working group assembled by Mills during the last legislative session. That bill was amended in committee to allow aggrieved farmworkers to sue over alleged violations. It passed both chambers, but was vetoed by Mills.

The new law will take effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.