Posted on 06/21/2007 4:23:18 PM PDT by radar101
PHOENIX -- By a wide margin, state lawmakers approved a comprehensive plan Wednesday that would put firms out of business in Arizona that repeatedly and knowingly hire undocumented workers.
The measure says a single violation could suspend a company's state license for up to 10 days. But HB 2779 also lets judges waive that penalty based on factors ranging from the number of illegal workers employed to the length of the duration in imposing a lesser penalty.
Companies also would be able to present evidence that its directors or officers were not involved in the hiring.
But a second violation within three years would mean permanent revocation of state licenses.
The legislation also says those who commit intentional violations -- defined by Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, as recruiting undocumented workers -- definitely would be shut down for at least 10 days for a first offense. And their probationary period would last five years.
Gov. Janet Napolitano said Wednesday she had not seen the final version of the bill. But Napolitano, who vetoed an employer sanctions bill last year she said was too weak, indicated a willingness to sign this measure.
"I have been saying for a long time you cannot deal with the border simply by talking about troops and fences and so forth," the governor said.
"You have to deal with the underlying labor issues," she continued. "And you have to have a law that can be enforced on those who intentionally go around the law to hire labor illegally."
If she does sign it, Pearce, who has been the driving force behind the legislation, said he will recommend that allies scrap plans to ask voters to approve a more punitive initiative. That measure would put a firm out of business for just one knowing violation of the law.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the legislation. Sen. Barbara Leff, R-Paradise Valley, worried that a "rogue" employee in charge of hiring, acting without blessing of the business' owners, could put a large company out of business by hiring one or two janitors who are in the country illegally.
"So we now have 1,200 people who will lose their jobs, 1,198 of them who are American citizens," said Leff, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. "What do we tell those people who have all lost their jobs?"
But Pearce, who has been the driving force behind the legislation, said that can happen only on a second offense -- and only after a judge found the firm knowingly or intentionally broke the law. He said the punishment is appropriate for the damage to the country.
"We're also doing great damage to the honest business people," Pearce said, who hire only legal residents and are at a disadvantage with competitors who ignore the law.
Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix, also objected to the mandatory revocation for a second offense. He noted that judges would have no discretion to consider other factors.
But Pearce said the legislation makes it easy for employers to obey the law.
It specifically requires companies to check the legal status of new employees through the Basic Pilot Program -- now formally known as the Employment Eligibility Verification Program -- a database run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. And it says any company that uses the program is entitled to a "rebuttable presumption" that it has not hired undocumented workers -- essentially a legal defense against being found guilty unless a prosecutor can show the employer really didn't do the checks, or do them properly.
Most business groups oppose the legislation -- with one major exception: The East Valley Chamber of Commerce Alliance supports the bill as a preferable alternative to the initiative.
But Jessica Pacheco, lobbyist for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said state legislators should instead let Congress enact an immigration reform measure.
A new law plus $3.50 will buy you a latte at Starbucks. It’s meaningless.
Call me when they enforce it.
No one is serious about the illegal alien problem.
This will be an interesting piece of legislation to follow.
"Uh ... no, Joe over in Accounting knows all about that. I'm just in charge of inventory."
yeah sure, Jessica Pacheco, lobbyist for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Hit the road, lobbyist B###ch!
Knowingly hiring illegals is already ILLEGAL, but not enforced. They’re whining now when they are already breaking the law?
In the shop I used to work at, all the human resource people suddenly found themselves working for a temp service operated out of the office they worked in when they were our HR people. Immediately after that we started getting a bunch of Guatemalans who spoke no english.
It makes me sick to think about a TB infested illegal handling my poultry. Does anybody know the name of the South Carolina company who hired these TB infested illegals? I would like to know this so I never buy anything from them again. We should send a few thousand pounds of chicken to the floors of the house and senate.
End slavery in the U.S.A. again.Free at last ,free at last,thank God Almighty free at last.
Near my home in NOrth Phoenix there is a whole 1 mile sector of town called “the square” where mostly hispanics live. I would be willing to bet you that atleast a decent percentage of these people do not live here legally. One might have a visa and the rest are living in mobile homes like sardines in a can.
“These penalties are all less than those applicable when you fail to properly pay postage.”
While I certainly understand your skepticism, multiple violations means losing your business license. That’s not minor, that’s exactly what is needed. I think the greater stumbling block will be some 9th circuit judge that will throw the law out because it hurts minorities.
Raeford Farms.
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-062007-jmn-immigrant_health.208d288f.html
Can they up the ante? What about all the PUBLIC schools that are admitting illegal aliens into their classrooms? What is going to be their penalty?
Exactly, we only did 23 times. That’s relatively few times.
And knowingly? Well golly gee willikers, the guy had a really good fake ID.
I wasn’t real happy about the TB infected citizen who worked in the cafeteria of Delaware State College (now University) about 12/13 years ago. I made a stink about it and wound up being hounded by the state for several years. I didn’t work there, but a close friend did and wound up coming down with TB and was fired when he couldn’t show up for work because the state quarantined him.
The Public Health people were not happy with me because I did everything in my power to make it public, but obviously they had more power and were able to keep it out of the media.
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