Lawmaker: Illegals may have worked on Capitol project
Posted on 24 February 2011 By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — A state lawmaker suggested today that a company may have used undocumented workers for a project on the state Capitol grounds.

Rep. Jim Nickels, D-Sherwood, made the assertion as the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs discussed his bill to require the state Contractor Licensing Board to suspend or revoke the licenses of contractors who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Nickels said a subcontractor, believed to be S&G Contractors of Beebe, used illegal immigrants to do some work on the nearly $5 million project to transform the old state library space in the Multi-Agency Complex on the Capitol mall into meeting rooms and office space for the state House and Bureau of Legislative Research employees.

He said the subcontractor also never paid its workers.

“My bill, I hope will address that issue,â€