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July 03, 2006

Georgia on our legislators’ minds

By KYLE HENLEY THE GAZETTE

DENVER - Colorado and Georgia don’t have much in common geographically, politically, culturally or otherwise. But Georgia is pointing the way for Colorado lawmakers looking to deal with illegal immigration.

In April, Georgia lawmakers passed a sweeping measure banning government services for illegal immigrants and punishing businesses that hire them

When Colorado’s General Assembly begins meeting in a special session Thursday, efforts to copy Georgia’s gettough-on-immigration stance that takes effect in 2008 will be front and center.

“It’s an approach that works,” said Edie Sonn of Keep Colorado Safe. “The Georgia law gives us a reasonable framework for a policy discussion.”

Keep Colorado Safe is part of a coalition that agreed to promote a law similar to Georgia’s after the Colorado Supreme Court tossed out a citizens’ initiative that would have barred government from providing services to illegal immigrants.

The court ruled several weeks ago that the proposed Initiative 55 violated a consti- tutional rule that ballot measures address only one subject. Gov. Bill Owens, who disagreed with the ruling, wanted to call a special session to have lawmakers refer a similar measure to the November ballot.

But Keep Colorado Safe, which opposed the initiative, cut a deal with Defend Colorado Now, the backers, to drop calls for a referred measure if lawmakers approved something akin to the Georgia law.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate agreed to the compromise, and it will be the centerpiece of their legislative efforts this week. Democrats hold a majority in both chambers.

“I think that approach ought to provide the basis for a productive special session,” said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver. “The folks pushing the ballot measure say this solution is better. If we can do something now, we should seize the opportunity.”

Colorado lawmakers in the spring enacted a host of laws dealing with immigration. They made it a felony to smuggle illegal immigrants into the state, banned state contractors from hiring undocumented workers, created civil penalties for helping illegal immigrants obtain forged documents and created a new unit of the Colorado State Patrol to fight illegal immigration.

Many of those laws are similar to the Georgia legislation, and the special session in Denver could add more laws modeled after the Southern state.

“We are quite pleased others would consider our work worthy of duplicating,” said Georgia Sen. Chip Rogers, a suburban Atlanta Republican who authored the bill. “We’ve already seen beneficial results, if you believe that illegal aliens leaving your state is a good result.”

Rogers said day-labor pickup areas have seen a dramatic drop-off in the number of people showing up for under-thetable jobs. He also pointed to a recent Los Angeles Times report that the Latino homebuying market had slowed in Georgia, though some might question whether that is a benefit.

Groups that deal with Georgia’s immigrant population say it is too soon to know what the impact of the law will be, but they detect anxiety among the state’s undocumented immigrants.

“The undocumented population here in Georgia just doesn’t know what to look out for,” said Mariana Pinango, spokeswoman for the Atlantabased Latin American Association, which helps Latinos get social services, housing and other assistance.

“They don’t know where or how it affects their lives,” she added. “We had families who were afraid to take their children to school, something they shouldn’t need to worry about.”

When all is said and done, the two states’ laws might not look exactly the same.

Colorado, for instance, may not be able to take away business tax breaks because of the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, which requires a vote of the people for any tax change that results in more taxes being paid.

Meanwhile, some Colorado lawmakers are expressing concern about the approach of Democratic lawmakers.

“There may be a piece or two of the plan that is good, but I don’t think we are really going to get the other side to buy into any strong enforcement of any kind,” said Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, a leading proponent for cracking down on illegal immigrants.

Schultheis will propose legislation during the special session that would require employers to verify the immigration status of all job applicants through a federal immigration database. Businesses that don’t comply would face fines.

Schultheis introduced similar legislation during the 120-day regular General Assembly session this spring and saw it defeated. Because his bill closely mirrors the Georgia law, it might have a better shot during the special session, but his is likely to be one of several bills dealing with employer sanctions.

Owens said last week he wants lawmakers to pass laws that are even tougher than Georgia’s.

“I’m concerned that the Georgia law, while a good first step, doesn’t address the real issue for us in Colorado,” Owens said. “I believe we can do more.”

When pressed for specifics, he said, “I’ll know when I see it.”

That frustrates Democratic leaders, who would like to put a Georgia-style deal on the table that gets bipartisan buyin.

“We need to craft a compromise that is consistent, cost effective and makes sense,” Romanoff said. “It doesn’t make any sense to try and read the governor’s mind and play a catand-mouse game.”

Romanoff hopes to meet with Owens in the days leading up to the special session to see if they can come up with a plan for Colorado.

CONTACT THE WRITER:

1-303-837-0613 or kyle.henley@gazette.com