Published Monday | March 10, 2008

Iowa lawmakers now need to reconcile

DES MOINES (AP) — Lawmakers will return to the Statehouse this week to a full slate of bills that survived the first legislative deadline.

Measures that made it out of committee and are eligible for debate include a couple of education bills, an effort to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants, a revamped bottle bill and health care expansion. Lawmakers also must reconcile different versions of House and Senate bills to outlaw smoking in public places.

House lawmakers are expected this week to tackle a health care bill intended to help all children and adults get health insurance coverage within a few years.

"We have reason to believe that it will pass with overwhelming support from both parties," said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines.

House Minority Leader Chris Rants of Sioux City said it was a bipartisan effort to get the health care package out of committee.

There's less bipartisanship about what can be done about illegal immigration.

A bill that made it through "funnel week" in the House would impose perjury charges against an employer who didn't verify a job applicant's identity with a valid photo ID. The charges would be punishable by up to five years in prison and a $7,500 fine.

Senate Minority Leader Ron Wieck, R-Sioux City, belittled the House bill and criticized Senate Democrats for not coming up with what he called more meaningful proposals. He said a detailed plan from Senate Republicans was dismissed outright.

Wieck wants to first help businesses verify that they're hiring legal citizens. If they won't verify a prospective employee's legal status, he said, "we need to take it to the wall, and that would be to shut the business down."

Rants also said the penalties under the House bill don't go far enough. He disagreed with Democrats' assertions that the federal government prevents them from going directly after employers.

"You talk to Iowans and they don't think we can just sit on our hands and do nothing because the federal government hasn't addressed this issue strongly enough," Rants said. "It's another example of Democrats breaking their campaign promises."

McCarthy said federal laws do pre-empt the Democrats' other proposals but that the current measure still provides for a stiff felony charge against corporate CEOs who hire illegal immigrants.

He and House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque added that Republicans were welcome to propose amendments if they want to see tougher punishments added to the bill.

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