Thread: Georgia: House recasts bill on illegals

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... legal.html

House recasts bill on illegals
Worker verification program included

By JIM THARPE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/22/06
The state Legislature's most ambitious attempt to confront illegal immigration got a significant overhaul Tuesday as the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act lumbered through the lawmaking process en route to a final showdown later this week on the House floor.

Lawmakers added a completely new worker verification program to be administered by the state Department of Labor and agreed to phase in rules affecting public contractors over three years. The bill, which once spanned eight legal-sized pages, had ballooned to 15 by day's end.

"I think the changes have strengthened the bill," said state Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), the author of Senate Bill 529. "It's not perfect, but it's a good start to begin dealing with this problem."

Everyone from the state commissioner of labor to Georgia's farming interests to private citizens engaged in legislative tug-of-war during two committee hearings on the far-reaching bill, which is aimed at the state's 250,000 to 800,000 illegal immigrants and the people who employ them.

The House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee adjourned Tuesday night without a vote on the bill, which has already passed the state Senate. Committee members plan to vote on the bill today, and it could appear on the House floor by Friday.

State Commissioner of Labor Michael Thurmond successfully lobbied Rogers to include a three-year phase-in for a portion of the bill that would force any employers getting government funding to verify that "newly hired" workers are here legally. Only employers with more than 500 workers would be required to used the Basic Pilot program — a federal verification program — by July 2007. Those with 100 or more employees would have to use the program beginning in July 2008, and smaller employers would have to sign up by July 2009.

Worker verification system

Thurmond also persuaded Rogers to insert a section into the bill that would allow the labor commission to create the "Georgia Immigrant Worker Verification System." That program would be used to ensure that all employees who work for companies that have government contracts are lawfully in the country.

"I really want to do something and not just create the facade of doing something," Thurmond said.

Thurmond said his verification program would likely cost about $2.2 million if his department completes 10,000 audits a year. He said he would ask for the money in the next budget cycle.

Crackdown on benefits

Rogers' bill would prohibit adult illegal immigrants from getting many public benefits, financially penalize private employers who hire workers in the county unlawfully, and establish harsh penalties for human trafficking.

Critics of the bill say it unfairly criminalizes poor laborers without seriously discouraging the people who hire them. Supporters say it is the first step needed to address the growing number of people who enter the country illegally and burden schools, prison and the health care system while paying few taxes and driving down wages for legal residents.

State Sen. Sam Zamarripa (D-Atlanta), who opposes the bill but has worked with Rogers in an attempt to soften its impact, told a morning committee hearing that the country has a "broken immigration system" that the state is not equipped to remedy. "This is a federal issue," he said.

Zamarripa said the bill fails to recognize that major state industries — construction, farming, hospitality, textiles — depend on workers from south of the border.

Contractors wary

Mark S. Woodall, a lobbyist for the Georgia branch of the Associated General Contractors of America, said his organization is officially neutral on the bill. But he was monitoring its progress carefully Tuesday as it moved through committee. His main concern: To make sure contractors are not held liable for the hiring decisions of subcontractors.

"Our work force is largely Hispanic, and many of them have documents," he said. "But we suspect a lot of them are undocumented."

Woodall said he thinks the problem of illegal immigration eventually has to be resolved in Washington, not at the state Capitol.

However, one private citizen who described himself as a "native Atlantan" disagreed. Brian Matthews, 48, had heard about committee hearing and came to the Capitol to tell lawmakers what he thought.

Matthews, in his first appearance before a legislative committee, said he was "offended" by suggestions the state should wait for the feds to act on the issue.

"I think it's wrong to just roll over and wait for instructions from above," he said. The bill is "not perfect," he said, but he encouraged its passage.

"I've lived here all of my life and I want y'all to do something about this," he said.


Staff writer Carlos Campos

contributed to this article.

His main concern: To make sure contractors are not held liable for the hiring decisions of subcontractors.

Yeah, so the contractors can turn a blind eye and say "we didn't hire them." I see this all the time.

"Our work force is largely Hispanic, and many of them have documents," he said. "But we suspect a lot of them are undocumented."

They suspect but they don't inquire further. Meanwhile some poor working class joe or even more commonly now an unsuspecting child has had their ss# and/or their identity stolen so the contractor can "suspect" that the workers are illegal but do nothing about it because they are making more money. So sad.