Attorney alters employer-sanctions initiative

Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

The architect of a ballot initiative to counter a state law that bars employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants has re-written his plan.

Attorney Andre Pacheco filed an initiative last week that would provide companies absolute immunity from charges of hiring undocumented workers if they check the legal status of new employees through the federal government’s E-Verify program.

On Tuesday, he added a provision which would make it a felony for an employer to knowingly accept false identification. He said it ensures someone is punished, even if the company itself is allowed to remain in business.

The revised initiative also spells out that firms which knowingly employ illegal immigrants could lose not only state-issued licenses, like those given to bars and contractors, but also any other state authorization to stay in business.

That specifically includes articles of incorporation and the state license to collect sales taxes — items covered by the law approved earlier this year by the Legislature.

The Arizona Legislature passed one of the country’s first state laws to strip companies of their business licenses for knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

Pacheco, who used that new law as a template, insisted it wasn’t his intent to narrow the scope of punishment. He said he is pushing the initiative because the legislation approved by lawmakers is not fair.

That law allows a judge to suspend a company’s state licenses and authority to do business for 10 days if it is found guilty of knowingly hiring an undocumented worker. A second offense within three years puts the firm out of business.

It requires firms to use the federal government’s E-Verify system to check the legal status of new workers and provides a “rebuttable presumptionâ€