Lawmaker wants to move ahead on immigration reform bill
February 12th, 2009 @ 8:55am
By Mary Richards
The Speaker of the House in Utah wants to implement a sweeping immigration bill without delay.

The heart of Senate Bill 81 is that it requires some employers to verify an employee's U.S. citizenship. It also prohibits illegal immigrants from getting public financial or housing assistance and allows local police to engage or partner with federal officials on immigration enforcement.

The bill was given a year for study and to get comment around the state. But House Speaker Dave Clark says there's still some confusion over what it does.

"All employers are not going to be affected. These are only those that deal with government RFPs (Request for Proposals) and projects being paid with tax dollars. Those are the ones that are impacted that need to do some certification and verify. This isn't all businesses in the state of Utah," he said.

Clark says he thinks the majority of lawmakers are ready to give the law the go-ahead. "From what the chairmen have told me, they anticipate with modest amount of (tweaking) around the edges, 81 will stay pretty much intact to be implemented and go forward," he said.

Some lawmakers are trying to delay the bill for another year. But Clark says the year it's already had for study and comment around the state was sufficient.

E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com

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