Thread: Alabama immigration law could clog up Water Works

Alabama immigration law could clog up Water Works

Published: Friday, October 21, 2011, 5:30 AM
Joseph D. Bryant -- The Birmingham News By Joseph D. Bryant -- The Birmingham News


Alabama's new immigration law could require Birmingham Water Works customers in five counties to travel downtown to order service, the utility's lawyers say.


That could apply to both orders for new service and account transfers, officials said.

"We're not prepared for that," said Water Works General Manager Mac Underwood. "We have to put some type of process in place. What type of process that would be and what everybody says would be legal, we don't know."

The Water Works is asking the state attorney general to clarify how the law applies to the utility. It's not clear whether the law's provisions apply to all of its customers or only to the approximately 60 percent who also pay for Jefferson County sewer service through the utility.

While the relevant section of the law was designed to prevent illegal immigrants from doing business with government entities, it appears the provision will mean more complication and wait for citizens and legal residents seeking water service, officials said.

The provisions go into effect in January, and the Water Board is seeking clarification before then. The utility sent its request to Attorney General Luther Strange this week.

The Water Works makes more than 100 new connections or transfers daily within its service area. If the law applies to the utility, that would mean an end to telephone orders for transferring service, and a new requirement that users come downtown to verify their identities when making any kind of change, officials said.

"It may mean a whole lot of questions and changes," Underwood said.

The main question is whether the law that applies to "government entities or political subdivisions of the state" includes the Water Works.

"Typically water boards have been deemed nonpolitical subdivisions," Mark Parnell, Birmingham Water Works lawyer, said recently.

But the Water Works' association with Jefferson County sewer service, which is clearly a governmental entity, complicates matters, Underwood said. The Water Works handles billing for joint water and county sewer customers.

"The stickler is we're billing for the sewer, and the sewer is a political subdivision with the state," Underwood said. "Does it apply to us because we handle the service for the county?"

The Water Works has about 210,000 individual account connections. About 130,000 of those are joint water and sewer customers, Underwood said.

An attorney general's opinion is needed in order for the utility to comply with the law and work with the county on compliance, Parnell said.

"To violate that is a crime," Parnell said of the law. "Depending on what they say can provide us some protection."

Even without the opinion, officials said the law would require joint water and sewer customers to appear at either the Jefferson County Courthouse or the Water Works service center to verify status and show more documentation.

And for those who must appear in person, the utility expects some complication with stricter document requirements that mandate names must be exact matches on all documents, including shortened versions of names or changed last names.

"Going forward with this new immigration law we're going to have to do several other things," Underwood said. "Anything that doesn't match directly, you're going to have a problem that you've got to correct if you're going to get any kind of service. It's going to cause a lot of problems."

Some other area water systems have a variety of approaches to the law. The Shelby County system is researching it, while Helena water officials say they've always required a valid driver's license and Social Security number from those getting water connections. Pelham officials said they have no plans to require those getting water connections to provide proof of legal residency or citizenship.

News staff writers Malcomb Daniels and Marienne Thomas-Ogle contributed to this report.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/10/ala ... could.html

Oh, it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Here you have to provide a driver's license or state ID, a SS card, a copy of your deed to your house or a copy of your lease to sign up for utilities, so I don't see the problem for the Alabama Water Works. It's time for them to get down to business, do their job and stop providing public utilities to people who aren't even supposed to be in the country let alone using up precious water supplies and contributing to human waste resources.