Thread: Colorado Governor to call special session on illegal immigra

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/45644.html#

Colorado Governor to call special session on illegal immigration


By STEVEN K. PAULSON | Associated Press
June 28, 2006

DENVER (AP) - With groups on both sides of the illegal immigration debate reaching a compromise plan and the state Supreme Court refusing to budge on a ballot proposal, Gov. Bill Owens will take the dramatic step of calling a special session on the issue.

The term-limited Republican governor wants lawmakers to consider a range of proposals on an issue that has become one of the hottest in the nation this election year.

A date for the session has not been determined, but it would be soon, Owens spokesman Dan Hopkins told The Associated Press late Tuesday. Hopkins said the agenda would include the compromise proposal and "other significant immigration related issues."

Other details were expected to be disclosed Wednesday.

The session was announced a day after the Colorado Supreme Court refused to reconsider its decision blocking an immigration proposal from November's ballot and hours after ballot proposal backers and opponents said they had reached a compromise.

That solution, modeled on a Georgia law, would crack down on both employers who hire illegal workers and illegal immigrants trying to get public assistance.

The plan tossed off the ballot would have barred illegal immigrants from getting non-emergency state services; the state would still have to provide schooling and emergency medical care under federal law.

The session's agenda will take up the compromise plan "as well as other significant immigration related issues," Hopkins said.

The compromise was brokered by groups led by two prominent Democratic politicians: Former Denver Mayor Federico Pena, leader of ballot plan opponents, and former Gov. Dick Lamm, a member of the pro-ballot plan coalition Defend Colorado Now.

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said the governor's decision suggests confidence that lawmakers can come up with a solution.

"If Federico Pena and Dick Lamm can agree, then the governor and the Legislature can agree on this issue," Romanoff said. "I think we're better off finding common ground than throwing rocks at each other."

Romanoff said both groups would prefer a solution the governor can sign now rather than putting a measure on the November ballot.

House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said he was not informed of the governor's decision. Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, praised Romanoff for helping negotiate an agreement with the governor and said the compromise should be passed as fast as possible.

"I hope the governor's call (his agenda for the session), if he chooses to call one, would be done with efficiency at the least cost to the tax payers," Fitz-Gerald said.

She said she was waiting to see the details of Owens' agenda.

Lamm said Democrats, who control the Legislature, may have felt pressure to do get tough on immigration after Republicans went on the offensive on the issue but he suggested it's still a good opportunity to pass some reforms.

"Let the cards fall where they may. I'm certainly not going to back away from progress if the Democrats have a battlefield conversion. We can really make some progress in this special session if the parties will work together," Lamm said.

In April, Georgia's governor signed a sweeping immigration bill into law that supporters and critics say gives the state some of the toughest measures against illegal immigrants in the nation. Among other things, the law requires verification that adults seeking many state-administered benefits are in the country legally. It sanctions employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants and mandates that companies with state contracts check the immigration status of employees.

The law also requires police to check the immigration status of people they arrest. Many provisions don't take effect until July 1, 2007.

A critic of the compromise reached Tuesday, former Republican Senate President John Andrews, said 40,000 people signed the petition to get the original proposal on November's ballot and they should be given a chance to vote.

He also said the compromise doesn't include all the details of the Georgia law.

"I'm afraid what they put up in a special session could have all trick phrases and trap doors in it or they could come back and weaken it next year," Andrews said of Democratic lawmakers.

Opponents of the ballot proposal said it could have led to lawsuits against agencies suspected of violating it and caused more problems, such as if illegal immigrant children were denied state-supported vaccinations. They also said it could cost too much to determine someone's citizenship for something as mundane as getting a library card.

The compromise, however, only addresses public assistance programs like welfare and food stamps, organizers say. Also, employers would be required to verify that an employee is in the country legally or lose the right to deduct their salary on their taxes.

Fred Elbel, director of Defend Colorado Now, said both sides recognize that legislators can come up with comprehensive solutions that will discourage illegal immigration and make sure taxpayer dollars are supporting legal residents.

Keep Colorado Safe spokeswoman Edie Sonn said the ballot proposal was vague on which services would be denied to illegal immigrants. She said working off the Georgia proposal would allow lawmakers to discuss exactly which services should be addressed.

"If there is more that should be done at the state level (on immigration), the Legislature should figure it out and put it in statute," Sonn said. "This is not the kind of stuff that is appropriately decided at the ballot box."

___

Associated Press Writer Colleen Slevin contributed to this report.


Want to use this article? Click here for options!
Copyright 2006 Santa Fe New Mexican







Questions? Comments? Send an email to webeditor@sfnewmexican.com


freenewmexican.com/news/45644.html

They also said it could cost too much to determine someone's citizenship for something as mundane as getting a library card.

They sure know how to reeeaach.....how totally silly. I'm sure that it is minute as opposed to the cost of supporting them to the tune of BILLIONS of dollars.

They are trying to keep them off welfare not away from the library, you dunce!