Thread: Contractors weigh in on new Colorado immigration bill

http://www.postindependent.com/article/ ... /109050032

Contractors weigh in on new immigration bill


Applications already down for one business


Donna Gray
Post Independent Staff
September 5, 2006

Colorado's new immigration laws are starting to cause a stir among businessmen in the valley. For contractor Mark Gould one bill in particular could mean the loss of about a quarter of his workforce.

Since House Bill 1343 took effect Aug. 7, Gould is now required to certify that he has no illegal workers on his payroll. The law applies to contractors working on projects for cities, counties, school districts and other governmental agencies.

According to the law, new workers must be checked through a Pilot Program, which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. The program links employers to an online database that checks names against Social Security numbers to determine if the number is valid.

"We've been told (the database) is only 80 percent correct," Gould said.

Gould Construction employs about 100 people, many of them unskilled laborers, many of them Hispanic immigrants. About half his contracts are with local governments.

Although Gould said his company checks people's documents as a condition of employment to make sure they are legal immigrants, it's a matter of simple math to realize that many of them are probably living in this country illegally.

According to Denver's Bell Policy Center, in 2004 there were 435,000 foreign born immigrants in the state. Gould estimates there are about 250,000 who are here illegally.

"As you walk down the street one of every two immigrants is illegal," he said. "This is not rocket science."

He has already seen the fallout from the bill.

Currently the company has 10 openings, and only three people have applied. Hispanics are not applying, Gould said.

"If you listen to (congressman and anti-illegal immigration advocate) Tom Tancredo, he wants to send 250,000 people back home. Congressman Tancredo says employers are employing illegals when there are legal workers standing in line," Gould said.

If Tancredo, R-Colo., has his way - and HB 1343 could go a long way to making that happen - businesses like Gould's, hotels in Aspen and Vail, landscapers around the valley and others would be hard put to find employees.

Gould pays $14 an hour as starting pay. At that rate, a worker who puts in the usual 50 hour week and who makes time-and-a-half in overtime will get $770 a week. That's good pay for unskilled labor, but still Gould would be hamstrung without Hispanics applying for those positions.

American kids are finishing high school and going on to skilled jobs.

"Kids are trained on computers, they don't want to dig a ditch," Gould said.

"What's going to happen to our economy if those workers go home? It would mean the loss of about a quarter of the excavators, laborers, masons, concrete workers, landscapers, roofers, drywallers and insulators in the valley," he said.

"So far business has been silent, they're assuming no politician would hurt the economy to make their constituency happy, but that's just what they've done."

Gould, representing the Colorado Contractor's Association, was part of a round-table discussion with Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs Monday, Aug. 28. The secretary was there to gather comments about President Bush's proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, including a guest worker program.

Businesses are also keeping their heads down and not speaking out about the new immigration laws because they're fearful they'll attract the attention of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), Gould said.

Another Glenwood Springs contractor and former state representative, Gregg Rippy, agrees HB 1343 is flawed, although it will have less effect on his business. Rippy's government contracts account for about 35 percent of his business.

What the law is likely to do is drive contractors away from government projects and exclusively into the private sector, he said.

"You look at the level of work in the valley and why would you bid a city job when there is plenty of private work," he said.

That will also mean higher bids from contractors bidding on government contracts and higher construction costs. Contractors who do bid on government jobs will build in the cost of going through the process mandated by HB 1343.

Colorado should have waited for federal legislation to be put in place before passing its own immigration reform law, Gould said.

Any immigration reform should include a provision for a guest worker program that would allow employers to go to Mexico, for example, to choose workers and check their medical background and whether or not they have a criminal record. Most importantly, Gould said, foreign workers need to have biometric identification that contains individual and unforgeable markers such as fingerprints or eye scans.

Gould is now in the process of applying for 15 H2B temporary work visas for his employees. But this avenue of filling the need for unskilled workers is hampered by the U.S. State Department, which grants only 33,000 such visas annually for the entire country.

"We have 7 million workers in the construction industry in the U.S., and we project we'll need 180,000 new workers annually for the next 10 years - that's 1.8 million," Gould said. "That's just our industry, not hospitality or tourism. This economy would be toast if we lost (immigrant) workers."



Contact Donna Gray: 945-8515, ext. 510

For contractor Mark Gould one bill in particular could mean the loss of about a quarter of his workforce.

If you didn't have illegals working for you, you wouldn't have to be worring about it now!

"We've been told (the database) is only 80 percent correct," Gould said.

Better 80% correct than a free for all.

it's a matter of simple math to realize that many of them are probably living in this country illegally.

Illegal + illegal = illegal.....why are you hiring them if you have any doubt???

Currently the company has 10 openings, and only three people have applied. Hispanics are not applying, Gould said.

Do the best you can...like all of you have made us do! You worry about your own selfish life and to hell with everyone else. We can't get ahead, our system is overloaded, but so that your life can be comfortable...you should be allowed to break the law, while they continue to work toward taking over this country! Don't look for any sympathy here...I don't have any for you traitors anymore. DEAL WITH IT, LIKE WE HAVE HAD TO DO!

Tom Tancredo, he wants to send 250,000 people back home.

250,000! "that ain't enough! Send them all home! " We've been crying for a long time ...now, how does it feel! We don't want to hear it. Absolutely NO sympathy for you!

"So far business has been silent, they're assuming no politician would hurt the economy to make their constituency happy, but that's just what they've done."

You've been a lot of things, but quiet ISN'T one of them! You speak loud and clear. To hell with everyone but me and mine. I will sell this country out to make a buck!
Here is an idea...GO LIVE IN MEXICO...LOTS OF CHEAP LABOR THERE. ALL YOU WANT! If you think our economy will fail without them. Well, we would rather go down the drain without them...than with them!...YOU would rather make a buck than keep our sovereignty or our country or our way of life!
[/quote]The secretary was there to gather comments about President Bush's proposal for comprehensive immigration reform, including a guest worker program.

AMNESTY AND OPEN BORDERS! WE DON'T WANT IT! He's a traitor too!

Colorado should have waited for federal legislation to be put in place before passing its own immigration reform law, Gould said.

NO WAY!
[quote:3gn88cn0]Gould is now in the process of applying for 15 H2B temporary work visas for his employees. But this avenue of filling the need for unskilled workers is hampered by the U.S. State Department, which grants only 33,000 such visas annually for the entire country.

Hopefully that will be changed too! Do what you have to do to get American workers. Their out there...you've had it your way. Now you will just have to adapt and live with it like the rest of us have had to do!

This economy would be toast if we lost (immigrant) workers."

[/quote:3gn88cn0]

We will be toast if your allowed to keep them...that we know for sure. SO ...DEAL WITH IT...OR MOVE TO MEXICO!

That chump claims his starting pay is $14.00 and hour (somehow I doubt that) and that about half of his projects are governmnent or state contracts. Is he not required, under the Beacon-Davis act, to pay the prevailing wage on those jobs?

CARP9901-006 05/01/2005

Baca, Bent, Chaffee, Cheyenne, Clear Creek, Crowley, Custer,
Delta, Eagle, Elbert, Fremont, Garfield, Gilpin, Grand,
Gunnison, Huerfano, Jackson, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lake, Las
Animas, Lincoln, Logan, Moffat, Montrose, Morgan, Otero, Ouray,
Park, Phillips, Pitkin, Prowers, Rio Blanco, Routt, Saguache,
Sedgwick, Summit, Teller, Washington and Yuma Counties, Colorado

Rates Fringes

Carpenters:
Formbuilding/Formsetting,
Drywall Hanging/Framing
and Metal Stud Work.........$ 22.70 7.99

The local government Gould contracts with has set the prevailing wage at 22.70 an hour....and he thinks 14.00 and hour is "good pay". ?!?!?!

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin ... CO20030011