vcstar.com
By Michael Collins
Posted December 29, 2011 at 4:21 p.m.


WASHINGTON — Rep. Elton Gallegly spent a good deal of time in the past year talking about immigration, just as he has since he first came to Congress more than two decades ago.

But this year, there was one big difference: Much of the time the Simi Valley Republican was leading the conversation.

Gallegly was chosen in January to lead a congressional panel on immigration policy and enforcement.

From the minute he called his first meeting to order, Gallegly guided the panel through hearings that looked at issues such as an E-Verify expansion, the effect of illegal immigration on the U.S. workforce and deportation of illegal immigrants with criminal records.

"We've had a very, very aggressive and active agenda," said Gallegly, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement.

Probably the most significant issue before the committee involved expanding E-Verify, a free Web-based program that enables employers to enter a potential worker's name, date of birth and Social Security number. Within seconds, the system will indicate whether the applicant is in the country legally and eligible to work.

The program is voluntary for businesses and mandatory for federal agencies and some federal contractors. Legislation pending in the House would require all employers use E-Verify to check a prospective employee's work-eligibility status.

Gallegly not only co-sponsored the legislation, but he also ushered it through his subcommittee and helped guide it through the House Judiciary Committee. The bill is awaiting a vote in the full House, and Gallegly said getting it passed would be his top legislative priority in the upcoming year.

"That is my No. 1 priority and No. 2 priority and No. 3 priority," he said. "We will deal with other issues as they come to us."

Gallegly said he also expects to advocate passage of a guest-worker program that would allow foreigners into the country to work for a period in the agriculture industry but would not provide them with a pathway to permanent citizenship.

A guest-worker program has been a priority of the agriculture industry for years but never has been approved in part because of the citizenship question. Gallegly said he does not anticipate filing his own bill but thinks other proposals already filed might be combined with the E-Verify legislation to create a workable guest-worker program.

"The key word to this process is 'guest,' " Gallegly said. "They would have the right to come in legally and work, be protected by the labor laws, be paid fair wages."

Guest workers would have to return to their home countries for at least 60 days every year. "This would not provide a road map for citizenship or being a permanent legal resident," he said.

Another matter that occupied a good deal of Gallegly's time during the past 12 months was legislation that would enable victims of a deadly Metrolink train crash near Chatsworth to be eligible for a combined payout of $275 million in damages. Federal law now caps liability in train crashes at $200 million. Families of the 25 people killed and more than 100 injured in the Sept. 12, 2008, crash say $200 million would not cover their medical bills and other losses.

Gallegly's legislation to raise the cap stalled in a House subcommittee. Most of those killed and many of the injured were from Ventura County.

"We really knew it was going to be difficult to legislatively resolve that issue," Gallegly said. But, "I'm still going to continue to work on this thing and try to find justice for these folks."

Another important question that awaits Gallegly in the new year concerns whether he will seek re-election, and if so, in which district he will run.

Gallegly's home in Simi Valley was placed in the same congressional district as that of Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, when congressional maps were redrawn earlier this year.

If he runs again, Gallegly must decide whether to challenge McKeon in the GOP primary or run in the newly created 26th Congressional District, which spans most of Ventura County except for a coastal portion of the city of Ventura and Gallegly's home turf in Simi Valley. There has been speculation that Gallegly will retire rather than challenge a fellow Republican or run in a district in which he doesn't live.

Whatever his plans, Gallegly will not reveal them just yet.

"My plans are to work very hard next year," he said when asked whether he plans to run for another term. Pressed further, he referred to GOP efforts to overturn some of the new congressional maps by putting the question on the ballot, adding, "When we find out where the district lines are, I'll make an informed decision."

"I take this very seriously," Gallegly added. "If I wasn't taking this very seriously, I would already have gone off and done something. But I have a lifetime history of making informed decisions and not just flying by the seat of my pants.

"I'm very gratified that I've had so many folks calling me from, of course, my hometown of Simi Valley and Santa Clarita Valley and other places. I have a tremendous relationship with the people of Ventura County and have for over 30 years. That makes the situation a little more complicated. So stay tuned."

On Saturday, Rep. Lois Capp talks about her year in Congress.

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/dec/...#ixzz1hyhyhUJz
- vcstar.com