Posted on Wed, Mar. 26, 2008
Senate refuses business penalties for immigration bill
BY JEANNINE KORANDA
Eagle Topeka bureau

The Senate late Wednesday defeated an attempt to reinsert business penalties into immigration reform legislation that had been removed in the House.

The vote was 27-12. Debate on the full bill continued into the night.

Many lawmakers said the penalties, such as business license suspensions for employers that hire illegal immigrants, and requiring businesses to check new employees' work eligibility using the federal e-Verify system, would harm the state's businesses.

"That is the underlying mentality with this bill: You make a mistake, you close your doors for 10 days," said Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, referring to part of the original bill in which businesses caught knowingly employing illegal immigrants could have their licenses suspended for 10 days.

Supporters of stiffer business penalties said leaving those out just supported the status quo.

"We have become a magnet for illegals and will continue to do that until we put in place good policies," said Sen. Peggy Palmer, R-Augusta, who drafted the original measure, now Substitute for Senate Bill 458.

Provisions in her original measure would have blocked illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits or in-state tuition at state universities. It also would have required law enforcement officers to check the citizenship or immigration status of every person they detained.

Those have all been eliminated.

Instead, the measure lawmakers built their reforms around focused on increased penalties for employment identify fraud, human trafficking and exploitation of illegal immigrants.

The bill was also amended to allow district attorneys and the attorney general to enforce immigration laws.

http://www.kansas.com/news/updates/story/353477.html