http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... 15-ON.html

2 employer sanction bills clear panel

Associated Press
Feb. 15, 2006 04:33 PM


A committee of the Arizona Legislature approved two proposals Wednesday that would create a state law prohibiting employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Some advocates for lessening Arizona's role as the nation's busiest illegal entry point said employers are fueling the problem by giving construction, agricultural and service industry jobs to immigrants.

Illegal immigrants account for 10 percent of all Arizona workers and more than 4 percent of all workers in the U.S. economy, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates.

Federal law already prohibits illegal hirings that are intentional, but some state lawmakers said Arizona needs its own law because the federal government has done a poor job of holding businesses accountable for employing illegal workers.

While both state proposals would prohibit illegal hirings, the key distinction between the two is that one bill would protect businesses from prosecution if they trained their human resource employees to comply with federal hiring rules and if they followed other requirements.

"If you have done everything you are supposed to do, you can't be tagged with it," said Republican Sen. Barbara Leff of Paradise Valley, sponsor of the proposal (SB1513).

Arizona serves as a hub for smugglers who transport illegal workers across the country. Even though immigrants provide the economy with cheap labor, Arizona and other border states shoulder huge health care and education costs for illegal workers and their families.

Public pressure is mounting for state politicians who face re-election races this year to confront the problem, even though immigration has long been considered the sole province of the federal government.

Employer-sanction proposals have failed at the Legislature over the last two years after heavy opposition from the business lobby.

Business groups said the protection in the latest bill was needed to separate honest employers from those who intentionally break the law.

Scott Peterson, a lobbyist for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said employers aren't opposed to the punishments, but expected reasonable sanctions that wouldn't hurt the economy.

Democratic Sen. Ken Cheuvront of Phoenix, who voted against the bill, questioned whether creating a state law that mirrors federal rules would result in fewer illegal hirings. "This looks like window dressing," Cheuvront said.

Under Leff's proposal, a first-time violator would face civil fines ranging from $200 to $2,000 for each illegal employee. Subsequent penalties could range from $2,000 to $10,000 per illegal worker, depending upon the number of previous violations.

The proposal cleared the Senate's Commerce and Economic Development Committee in a a 5-3 vote.

Democratic Sen. Bill Brotherton of Phoenix, author of the other employer sanctions bill, said the movement for Arizona to crack down on illegal immigration has focused on denying illegal border-crossers government benefits and has done nothing to confront employers who illegally hire undocumented workers.

His bill would carry civil fines of up to $5,000 for each violation. The bill (SB 1216) was approved in a 5-3 vote by the committee.

Lawmakers rejected another proposal (SB1215) by Brotherton that would have required employers to check the employment eligibility of job prospects by running their names through federal databases - systems that are now used on a voluntary basis.

Business groups said the federal government's rules place unreasonable burdens on employers, such as making them scrutinize records presented by new employees to show employment eligibility at a time when forgeries abound.

Farm Bureau lobbyist Joe Sigg said the federal government's employment eligibility system also isn't robust enough to handle the demands of tens of thousands of businesses checking up on their workers.

Martin Thompson, an executive for a meat processing company in Phoenix that has used the verification system for the last five years, said the database is easy to use and that the company's reputation for checking employment eligibility has deterred illegal immigrants from seeking jobs with the company.

It also has led to less scrutiny from federal agents who check employment records to see whether the law is being followed, Thompson said.

"It gives us more of an assurance that we won't have to go through those audits," Thompson said.

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Arizona Legislature: http://www.azleg.state.az.us