Southeast could target illegal hirings
By Marcela Rojas • mrojas@lohud.com • July 23, 2009

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SOUTHEAST - Some Town Board members are working to pass a controversial bill that would require contractors to obtain a license and provide proof of their employees' immigration status.





Supervisor Michael Rights and Councilman Dwight Yee have proposed a contractor licensing law as a way to regulate illegal hiring practices in the town.



"It's a twofold process to hire legally and to dry up the illegal contractors coming into the village and picking up people off the streets," Yee said of the proposal. "We want that element to go away."



Contractors - from pool installers to domestic workers - would have to register with the town and use the online "E-verify" system, a service operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration that allows employers to verify the employment eligibility of their workers, according to a draft of the bill.



Employers must keep these E-verify identification records handy and produce them at work sites, traffic checkpoints or "at any other reasonable time or occasion," the measure says.



Applicants would be required to pay an annual $400 licensing fee, plus post a $10,000 permit bond, a valid certificate of liability insurance and proof of workers' compensation insurance.



Valid stickers would have to be affixed to vehicles.



Yee said they are looking to partner with Putnam County - which has a law similar to the bill - to possibly share services and to use them as a model for any potential litigation that may arise.



The county's "Home Improvement" law works to protect homeowners from unscrupulous contractors and, as of this year, requires employers to submit an affidavit attesting that their workers are legal to work, said Joseph LaBarbera, the director of the county's consumer affairs department.



LaBarbera said he thinks the town's proposed law is a duplication of services. His office has a staff of eight, he said.



"I think you are taking on a monumental task," LaBarbera said at last week's Town Board meeting, when the topic was discussed.



Barbara Schech-Freer of Schech's Pools and Spas in Southeast said the county's licensing law already covers what the town is proposing. Her business offers weekly pool maintenance.



"I feel it's extremely restrictive for small-business owners," Schech-Freer said of the town's plan. "I don't understand how they could enforce such a law. And if they are going to pass it, it should apply to all businesses, including service and retail."



Bill Henry of Billy Henry Tree Service in Southeast said the licensing fee would hurt small businesses, but otherwise did not have a problem with the proposed law.



"I think it's fair because it's going to keep everybody honest," Henry said.



Councilman Paul Johnson said the contractor legislation is redundant and would create a bureaucracy, as well as put the town at risk for multimillion-dollar lawsuits.



"I think there are constitutional issues that I'm not comfortable with," Johnson said. "I wouldn't want to adopt it at this time."



He faulted Rights and Yee with capitalizing on a recent crash in the village of Brewster to promote their own political agendas. On June 8, a mother and daughter were killed, police say, by man suspected of drunken driving, who had no license, is in the country illegally and was apparently driving his employer's pickup truck. The accident has since spurred cries from the community for greater crackdowns on illegal immigrants.



"They are trying to use the June 8 tragedy to shove this contractors law down our throat," Johnson said.



Councilman Roger Gross suggested seeking ideas from contractors on the measure before it is passed, as well as advice from an attorney. He said he thinks some sections of the proposed law appear to be illegal, including having code enforcement officers stop contractors to review their registration.



"You can't stop someone on the streets and ask for their papers," Gross said. "This is not Nazi Germany."



Under the proposal, penalties for contractors include a minimum of $2,500 for the first offense; a minimum of $5,000 for a second offense; and forfeiture of the offender's vehicle, its contents and the remainder of the bond for the third offense.



Greg Wunner, owner of Brewster Iron Works in the village, said tacking on more licensing fees, especially in these tough economic times, would have a ripple effect. "If you keep choking the small-business owner, we have no choice but to pass it on to the homeowner," he said.



The Town Board is expected to vote tonight to set an Aug. 20 public hearing on the contractors law.





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