Thread: CO Immigration reform package

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4038220

Article Launched: 7/12/2006 01:00 AM

denver & the west
Reform package excites, divides
Immigration laws causing confusion, irritation, elation. Social-services officials fear that forcing agencies to verify applicants' legal status will worsen the bureaucracy. However, some lawmakers tout a unified front.
By Karen E. Crummy
Denver Post Staff Writers
DenverPost.com

A day after the legislature passed what leaders called the toughest package of immigration laws in the country, confusion reigned at social-services offices, a few vocal partisans cried betrayal and political scores were being tallied.

Officials at some agencies, who will be required starting Aug. 1 to verify the legal status of residents seeking services, said Tuesday they fear the new law will make an already bureaucratic process worse.

"We'll have to place cases on hold, and staff time to go back over these will eat into service time," said Jose Mondragon, director of the Pueblo County Department of Social Services. "It's just getting more and more difficult to serve people."

At the Capitol on Tuesday, the performance of Republican Gov. Bill Owens and Democratic leaders was being analyzed.

Democratic lawmakers - outfoxed by Owens for years in political fights - finally won a battle, said longtime observers of statehouse politics.

"It's the most interesting political dance I've seen in a long time," said U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "From a purely partisan, political view, the Republicans lost on this."

Republicans, partly in an attempt to increase GOP voter turnout in the November elections, wanted to ask voters to impose a constitutional ban on public services to illegal immigrants.

But the Democratic majority thwarted that effort and instead passed a bill requiring agencies to verify the legal status of applicants.

"If it goes to initiative, then it's something you can talk to throughout the whole campaign. If you take care of it through statute, it's dead as an issue," said Michael Kanner, a political-science instructor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Lawmakers also passed a bill to require employers to verify the legal status of workers. And they referred to voters two measures: one to eliminate a tax credit for wages that employers pay to illegal workers and one asking the attorney general to sue the federal government to enforce federal immigration laws.

Owens deserves credit for calling the special session and forcing Democrats to address the issue, said John Straayer, a political-science professor at Colorado State University.

"Owens put the Democrats' back to the wall on this thing," he said.

But the Democrats, led by Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, presented a unified front on illegal-immigration reform and a bill backed by groups on both sides of the debate.

"Democrats not only defused the issue but managed to get a reputation of being in control of the statehouse and passing the toughest immigration measure in the country," said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli.

What emerged was a compromise that former Denver Mayor Federico Peña and former Gov. Dick Lamm - leaders of the opposing camps on the constitutional-amendment fight - agreed was fair and substantive.

"Under our system of government, a vote of the people is a safety valve and a measure of last resort; it is not to do the business of the people if (the legislature) can get things done," Lamm said.

Both parties are fighting for control of the statehouse in November - and a few seats could make the difference. But illegal immigration, once viewed as a potential wedge issue at the polls, appears to have been neutralized by the package of bills.

"There's no question it's the No. 1 issue in my district, but people want more action at the federal level," said Matt Knoed ler, R-Lakewood, who is making a run at Democratic Sen. Betty Boyd's seat.

But many lawmakers who didn't believe it would be a pivotal issue in their districts also said they believed illegal immigration would be used by both sides to draw blood.

"I'm one of the key targeted races. They are going to use everything they can against me," said Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, who is fighting a challenge from Republican State Sen. Dave Owen.

Others also worried about the longer-term implications of an emotional debate that Peña said at times became "racist."

Teresa Ogu, whose husband is a Nigerian immigrant and who backed the constitutional amendment to restrict services to illegal immigrants, said she felt betrayed by a compromise that deprived her of a meaningful vote.

"I'm highly disappointed in the whole process," she said. "I think Democrats have succeeded in taking this issue off the public scene for the election that is coming up."

Denver Post staff writers Mark P. Couch, Chris Frates, David Migoya and Elizabeth Aguilera contributed to this report.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lawmakers during the five-day special session passed two key bills to curtail illegal immigration and sent two questions to voters.


New laws
House Bill 1023, takes effect Aug. 1

Will require all adult applicants for nonemergency public services to provide proof or sign an affidavit that they are U.S. citizens or legal residents.

Applicants would be required to produce one of the following:

A valid Colorado driver's license or a Colorado identification card

A U.S. military card or military dependent's identification card

A U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner card

An American Indian tribal document

Verification would not be required for:

Emergency medical care

Short-term, emergency disaster relief

Immunizations and treatment for communicable diseases

Services delivered at the local level - such as alcohol and drug treatment, mental-health treatment, short-term housing, crisis counseling and soup kitchens - not conditional on income or necessary for life or safety as determined by the U.S. attorney general


Prenatal care
House Bill 1017, takes effect Jan. 1

Requires businesses to attest that they have verified the legal status of their employees using the I-9 form currently required by the federal government. It requires employers to keep copies of those records for review by state auditors. Employers found to have "reckless disregard" for the law can be fined $5,000 to $25,000.

What goes to voters in November

House Bill 1020

Asks Colorado voters to authorize a change in tax laws.

Employers would no longer be able to claim wages for "unauthorized aliens" as an expense for state income-tax purposes.

House Bill 1022

Asks Colorado voters to authorize a lawsuit against the federal government to demand federal enforcement of immigration laws.




I heard Gov Owens on the radio tonight and he doesn't anticipate any problems because basically all they are doing is enforcing existing federal laws. Imagine that!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... d=rss.news

Colorado OKs curbs on illegal immigrants, employers
Some state services will be unavailable to undocumented
- T.R. Reid, Washington Post
Wednesday, July 12, 2006



(07-12) 04:00 PDT Denver -- Ending a bitterly divisive special session of the General Assembly, Colorado's Republican Gov. Bill Owens cut a deal with Democratic leaders on a package of bills to deny some state services to illegal immigrants and to punish employers who hire them.

But the compromise late Monday brought angry criticism of the governor from some of his GOP allies because it did not include a key Republican goal: a tough anti-immigrant referendum on the November ballot.

Owens had called the special session specifically to reverse a ruling last month by the state Supreme Court that removed the proposed referendum from the ballot.

In the end, though, the governor agreed with Democratic leaders of the legislature to deal with the red-hot political issue through legislation rather than a ballot issue.

In passing its immigration crackdown, Colorado is following the national trend that has state legislatures this year taking the initiative on an issue that used to be considered a matter for the federal government.

More than 60 bills dealing with undocumented immigrants have been approved in 27 states so far this year, according to a tally last week by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The states have been moved to act in large part because "we seem to have a Congress in gridlock on the issue," said Ann Morse, who tracks immigration matters for the group. "State legislators feel if they don't act, nobody will."

Congressional leaders have identified immigration as a key concern in the current session, but it now appears unlikely that any bill will emerge from Congress before the November elections.

Colorado is the home of Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Republican who has become a national leader for organizations that want to increase border enforcement and deport illegal immigrants.

The cause has won support from conservative Republicans in Colorado and from some Democrats, including Richard Lamm, who served three terms as governor.

A group headed by Lamm and senior Republicans got more than 50,000 signatures this spring to put a strict anti-immigration measure on the November ballot. But the state Supreme Court ruled that the initiative's wording did not meet legal standards.

"The Republicans really wanted a ballot referendum in November," said Terry Snyder, a Denver political consultant who works with Democrats. "They thought that would get all the anti-immigration people out to the polls. That's why Owens called the special session in the first place."

But Democrats, with control of both houses of the legislature, said from the start that they wanted to avoid a divisive ballot proposal.

The key measure approved Monday will deny illegal immigrants unemployment checks, grants to pay energy bills, professional or business licenses and some public medical care. An undocumented resident who applies for such benefits would face a fine.

For anyone younger than 18, the bill allows state services and services generally provided by local governments, such as soup kitchens.

Under federal law, many governmental services -- including education, police and emergency health care -- must be provided equally to all.

This has been an obstacle in several state legislatures that sought this year to cut services to illegal immigrants; the Colorado bill authorizes all state services mandated by federal law.

A second law passed Monday requires all employers in the state to certify that each new hire is a legal resident. Under intense business lobbying, the wording was softened so that employers can be sanctioned only if they show "reckless disregard" about an employee's background.