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Illegal-immigration law casts wide net
Effects to be felt all across state, local government

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News
July 29, 2006

Colorado's new landmark anti-illegal-immigration law cuts a wide swath through local and state government and will require tens of thousands of Coloradans to prove they're in the country legally before obtaining benefits.

Interviews with officials at more than 20 state and local agencies indicate that House Bill 1023 will impact services ranging from liquor and business licenses, unemployment benefits, in-state tuition and government-issued college financial aid.

The tentacles of the law - expected to take effect Tuesday - also touch nonprofit and private organizations that administer publicly funded services, according to guidelines issued late Friday afternoon by the State Attorney General's Office.

Passed July 10 during a special legislative session, HB 1023 is being touted as the toughest anti-illegal-immigration law in the country.

It has also generated widespread confusion among government agencies that were given three weeks to figure out how to comply.

Just a few days before the law is expected to take effect, government agencies are still struggling to identify programs that fall under the law's jurisdiction. Further complicating matters, state lawmakers passed more than 15 illegal-immigration-enforcement laws since the spring, and some of those laws overlap or conflict.

For example, officials at the Department of Regulatory Agencies didn't know whether the nearly 600,000 professional licenses it issues - for everyone from doctors to plumbers - will fall under HB 1023.

Under the attorney general's guidelines issued Friday, it appears that most of the agency's licenses will fall, instead, under a different immigration law supposed to take effect Jan. 1. HB 1009 requires applicants for professional licenses to follow a different ID-verification process.

HB 1023 was designed to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving government benefits such as welfare and in-state tuition. But the law also stipulates that people who get government contracts, loans, grants and professional and commercial licenses must also prove legal residency.

The attorney general's guidelines, the second set issued since the passage of the law, indicate that HB 1023 will also affect documents that may not be called a "license." It refers to "any government authorizations or approval required by state or local law to engage in a profession or business."

Dan Hopkins, spokesman for Gov. Owens, said the implementation of HB 1023 "is not going to be an easy process."

"This truly is landmark legislation," he said. "There will be unforeseen situations and there will be bumps in the road."

Hopkins said "it is increasingly likely" that Owens will sign the law Monday, which would allow it to take effect Tuesday. The law will take effect Aug. 9 at the latest.

"But he will not make a final decision until he reviews all of the information available that day," Hopkins said. "His review will include the pertinent legal issues."

Government officials said it could be weeks, if not months, before they clearly understand the scope and cost of the law.

"I think that one of the challenges with all of this is that people have not really understood the work that it would take to figure all of this out," said Richard Vogt, executive director of Tri-County Health Department, which serves Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties. "We may find, going forward, that it's more costly to try to document citizenship than the savings that we may realize."

Hundreds of government officials and their lawyers have attended numerous meetings during the past three weeks to try to analyze the law.

"It's not been done by any other state, so we're plowing some new ground here," said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, one of the agencies most affected by HB 1023.

The law "affects the whole scheme of government," said John "Chip" Taylor, legislative director of Colorado Counties Inc., which represents the state's county commissioners. "From acting as employers, from acting as purchasers of services, from acting as administrators of benefits, it affects us in all those ways across the board."

HB 1023 requires people who apply for non-emergency government benefits to sign an affidavit attesting to their legal immigration status. They also must show one of four IDs: a Colorado driver's license, a Colorado ID, a merchant-mariner card or a Native American tribal document. Then an agency worker must check the applicant's immigration status on an online system known as SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements).

Agencies such as the Department of Human Services are anxiously awaiting emergency rules from the Department of Revenue that would allow people who don't have the required ID - including many homeless, severely disabled and elderly - to show other forms of ID and continue to receive benefits until March 1, 2007.

The Department of Revenue will issue the rules immediately after Owens signs the law, Hopkins said.

State lawmakers are expected to review the HB 1023 ID requirements next winter and could turn the Revenue rules into law after March.

Even with a waiver system, it is clear that hundreds of thousands of people will now have to prove legal immigration status before they can receive a wide range of benefits.

The new law does not apply to emergency medical care; benefits to children under 18; temporary disaster relief; a range of medical care, including immunizations and prenatal care; and programs - including K-through-12 public education - that are required by the federal government.

Numerous agency officials said they are generally prepared to implement the law Tuesday. "Our belief is, at this point, that (the new law) won't slow the process down. If there is a delay, it won't be more than one day," said Department of Labor and Employment spokesman Bill Thoennes.

Most of the programs at the Department of Human Services are affected by HB 1023. McDonough said most clients give Social Security numbers when they apply for benefits. But agency workers don't know how many clients have a Colorado driver's license or the three other forms of ID required by the new law.

Taylor, of Colorado Counties Inc., said he expects some agencies will implement the law differently than others because of confusion.

"I would guess that there's going to be counties that err on the side of caution and do more verification initially and back off from it as we get more clarity," Taylor said.

Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, a critic of HB 1023, said he's concerned that states and counties will not be on the same page with the details of the law.

"It could be interesting," Wiens said. "You're going to see implementation being a creative process out there. It'll be a difficult task."

Proof of legal residency requirements

Under Colorado's new illegal-immigration reform law, people applying for many taxpayer-funded programs must do more to prove they're legal U.S. residents. (The new rules also apply to people currently in programs who must periodically recertify their eligibility.) They must:

• Sign an affidavit saying they are in the country legally

• Present one of four IDs: A Colorado driver's license, state-issued ID, a Merchant Mariner card or a Native American Tribal document. (The Department of Revenue is expected to issue emergency rules once the law is signed by Gov. Owens that will give people without the required ID additional options until March 1.)

• Undergo verification of immigration status through a federal online program known as SAVE.

Programs expected to adopt stricter ID rules (as defined in House Bill 1023):

• In-state college tuition

• Federal and state financial aid for colleges

•College Opportunity Fund (state-funded college tuition stipends)

• Medicaid (up to 75,000 people)

• Unemployment benefits (about 21,000 people)

• Colorado Workforce Centers (help people find a job or get job training)

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (formerly known as welfare)

• Restaurant and liquor licenses

• Business licenses issued by municipalities

• Foster care and child care licenses

• Low income energy assistance (LEAP - about 100,000 households receive this benefit in the winter)

• Any individual or sole proprietor who gets a state contract approved by the Department of Personnel and Administration

• Old Age Pension - State Medical Program (medical coverage for elderly people who don't qualify for Medicaid but have a state pension and a disability - estimated 4,700 people will be affected)

• CHP plus (basic health plan that will apply only to children over 18 and pregnant women - estimated 2,300 people affected)

• Colorado Indigent Care Program (hospitals and clinics that get state money through this program will be required to go through the new ID verification process for poor people, such as the homeless, who enroll)

Programs that are not expected to change:

• Food stamps

• Building permits

• Women Infants and Children (WIC) nutritional program

• Pre-natal services

• Immunizations

• Communicable disease prevention programs

• Family planning programs

• Suicide prevention programs

• K-12 public education

• Fire and police services

• Criminal justice system services

• Educational programs on health effects of smoking and chronic diseases

• Temporary disaster relief

• Driver's license application process

• Services and programs for children under 18

• Recreational licenses, such as those for fishing and hunting

• Firearms permits

• Emergency room care and labor and delivery

• Public transit, public park, public garbage service and library use

Source:Colorado state agencyofficialsandgovernment lawyers

kimm@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2361