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Charleston Daily Mail

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Lawmakers push immigration bill

Kris Wise
Daily Mail Capitol reporter



Thursday June 08, 2006
Lawmakers are urging Gov. Joe Manchin to deal with the issue of illegal immigration in West Virginia during next week's special session of the state Legislature.

At least three Northern Panhandle legislators have sent a letter to the governor asking him to put on the session agenda a bill that earlier this year sped through the state Senate 34-0 but stalled in the House.

The bill would allow the state to increase the fines for companies that are found to have hired illegal workers, and to suspend or revoke those contractors' licenses to do business in West Virginia.

Now, with conservative politicians in Washington focused on further closing the country's borders and stopping the flow of illegal immigrants, several state lawmakers want West Virginia to step ahead of other states in cracking down on illegal workers.

Sen. Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio, Sen. Ed Bowman D-Hancock, and Delegate Gil White, R-Ohio, are all backing the bill and want another chance next week to get it passed.

"I think it would be a great opportunity for this governor to stand up first in the U.S. and be a leader on this issue and bring great attention to the state," McKenzie said. "In several parts, we've got a major problem over here with immigrants coming in and working. It's been a problem we've seen slowly creep into the United States, and it's slowly happening here as illegal aliens come further into the interior of the country."

Manchin's office could not confirm this week that the governor had even received the lawmakers' request about the bill.

Regardless, Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said the issue of illegal workers would not be addressed next week when the Legislature convenes for what's slated to be a two-day session in Charleston.

The governor has sole authority to set the agenda for such special sessions, and issues already on the call include increasing penalties for sex offenders and establishing new funding for major road projects.

"Certainly, everybody is mindful of this (immigration) issue right now, but it's not going to be on the call," Ramsburg said. "I would anticipate the governor sees this as something that, to be fully discussed, would need to be done during a regular 60-day session."

Ramsburg noted that next week's agenda focuses on topics that already have been debated for several months and for the most part, legislative leaders already have worked out the technical details.

She said the administration is hesitant to tackle the immigration issue until Congress takes further action.

"There's great debate we're following closely, and I think right now we're waiting to make any judgments until we see what happens on a national level," Ramsburg said.

The illegal workers' bill sparked great debate when it was first introduced this past winter and incited major criticism from companies, specifically in the construction business, that felt targeted by the proposed laws.

The bill was written soon after several incidents in the northern and eastern parts of the state increased scrutiny of the construction business and the number of illegal workers often found on job sites.

McKenzie cited as examples raids on Wal-Mart construction sites in Moundsville and Morgantown in the past few years, where out-of-state companies were found to have been employing dozens of illegal workers. At one site, several of those workers were accused, though later cleared, of a violent attack on a female.

Lawmakers said the bill mostly is intended as a way to regulate the large number of out-of-state contractors that are often awarded jobs in the state.

"I don't think we have any evidence that this is a crime being committed by West Virginia companies," McKenzie said. "I see this bill as a pro-West Virginia, pro-jobs and pro-state contractors bill. Right now, there's no incentive here for these out-of-state contractors not to hire illegals. What's a $500 fine if it saves you hundreds of thousands in taxes and wages, and that's what helps you put in the low bid?"

Still, it was namely opposition from the West Virginia Homebuilders Association, a major lobbying group that represents contractors around the state, that killed the bill when it showed up in the House of Delegates.

Association leaders are still speaking out against the bill, and they've sent their own letter to Manchin outlining their problems with the proposed legislation.

"We absolutely are not against the concept, but the law already is there," association director Beth Thomasson said this week. "We just need to start enforcing it, and not keep singling out one industry to be fined in several sections of the code."

Thomasson points to the section of state law that regulates contractor and business licensing. She said the power to investigate allegations of illegal hiring practices and to penalize companies already lies with the state Division of Labor.

"Let's put some money in that fund and crack down like we're supposed to," Thomasson said. "The logical and sensible thing to do is to enhance the power already given to the state and go after everybody - contractors, restaurants, whoever it is."

McKenzie said the bill already was rewritten earlier this year to address one of the contractors' major concerns, that they would be penalized for hiring decisions made by companies subcontracted to do large construction jobs.

In most cases when a construction firm is hired to oversee a major job, that firm hires other contractors to tackle different parts of the construction. Those contractors often hire other subcontractors, and so on.

In the original version of the bill, the company hired to oversee a job would have been held responsible if illegal immigrants were hired by any of the subcontractors working on the job.

That provision has been taken out, and companies now only would be penalized for their hiring decisions and those made by contractors they directly employ.

Contact writer Kris Wise at 348-1244.




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