So far, Senate Republicans have avoided roll call votes on penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Rather than facing roll call votes on 16 amendments to bills dealing with denial of public services to those who cross the border illegally and work centers that employ illegal border crossers, the majority chose to adopt the amendments in a preliminary voice vote May 3 to approve S2030 and H2592.

Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-14, who authored amendments calling for sanctions of companies found guilty under federal law (there is no such state law) of knowingly hiring undocumented workers, said his amendments were adopted because Republicans don’t want to be on the record on the issue and plan to strip his amendments from the bills in conference committees.

“They didn’t want to be on the record of voting to sanction businesses because some of their chamber [of commerce] buds would be angered about that . . .” Mr. Brotherton said. “My understanding is they’re going to go to conference and put on some bullet proof Republicans who would be willing to strip out the sanctions on employers and then push the bills through.”

Farrell Quinlan, vice president for communications and federal affairs at the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, told one reporter at the Capitol that the bills and amendments are “bad policy,” and Arizona industries such as agriculture and construction are dependent on foreign labor.

How many companies employ illegal immigrants is unclear, but Sen. Jack Harper, R-4, quipped in a floor speech that only 16 companies hire illegals, “and 13 of them are Filiberto’s” (a locally owned Mexican fast food chain).

S2030 And H2592

Final Senate action on the two bills had not been scheduled as of press time.

S2030 denies adult education classes, in-state tuition and financial assistance for education and childcare. H2592 prevents a municipal or county government from building or maintaining a work center that, in any way, knowingly facilitates the employment of an illegal alien.

Mr. Brotherton submitted eight identical amendments to each bill that call for a series of employer sanctions, including revocation of state licenses for more than one offense, disqualification from bidding on state jobs, denial of state tax credits and civil fines.

On April 18, Mr. Brotherton was successful in getting a role call vote on one of his amendments in Committee of the Whole. The amendment passed, but Republicans then questioned whether the amendments were germane, then voted to hold the bills. Mr. Brotherton later rewrote the amendments, and the Rules Committee attorney declared them germane.

“Unless we’re going to be hypocrites and basically pass legislation that makes it look like we’re just picking on a bunch of poor immigrants, we’ve got to put in the sanctions against businesses too,” Mr. Brotherton said, adding that surveys show that 75 per cent of those polled favor sanctions against employers who hire illegal border crossers. —