Now that several immigration-related measures have been filed in the House, the strategy of the Senate appears to be to wait-and-see.
Besides a bill indirectly touching on border security, no major proposal on the issue has been advanced in the 30-member body since it convened Jan. 8.
But this week its leaders were quick to point out that the scarcity of immigration measures in the Senate does not tantamount to the issue being sidelined this year, a perception that gained momentum when Gov. Janet Napolitano didn’t even mention the subject in her inaugural speech and listed it among the last items in her State of the State address.
Indeed, illegal immigration remains a major concern for Republicans, according to the majority program recently made public.
In various interviews, senators have suggested several reasons to explain the dearth of immigration bills in their chamber.
One explanation is that they wanted a quick review of what the federal government has done on border security and other immigration woes since the Legislature concluded last year, and start from there.
That review is nearly done, according to Senate President Tim Bee, who had ordered it.
Victor Riches, the Senate chief of staff, said Bee wants to make sure that the state will not be duplicating measures, such as allocating funds for certain projects already being carried out by the federal government.
Bee admitted that his chamber has not been as active as the House in proposing bills that seek to protect the border or address the problem of undocumented aliens in the state.
But he also pointed out practical reasons for this.
200-300 more filings expected soon
The House, unlike the Senate, has a limit on the number of bills a member may sponsor, which means the public may yet see bills by senators on the topic in the coming days, Bee said.
The Senate president said he anticipates 200 to 300 more proposals being dropped as he and his colleagues hunker down.
What he does not anticipate, he said, is duplication of measures.
“I’m not anticipating that every bill we see in the House will be duplicated. We will have a debate when those bills cross over (here),” he said.
The majority caucus is also discouraging members from filing similar measures in both chambers, he said.
“We’re trying to make things more efficient and if you introduce all of the bills on both sides, you’re increasing the workload of both bodies,” he said. “It’s a more efficient process to have a single introduction.”
Riches put forward another reason.
“The bills, the number of ideas that we were talking about last year passed into law at the ballot. I think some of the big issues are now in law, so that certainly, I’m sure, discourages some folks from running bills when they’re passed at the ballot box already,” he said.
Riches identified two major issues that still need to be addressed — infrastructure along the border and employer sanctions.
“There has been a lot of discussion still going on about that. That issue is still out there,” Riches said.
Waiting for Pearce
Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor echoed Bee when he said people expected Rep. Russell Pearce, R-18, architect of most anti-immigration proposals seen in the Legislature during the last six years, to again vigorously pursue the subject this session.
“I think probably a lot of folks know that he’s going to be running those bills,” Verschoor said. “We will deal with those bills when they come here.”
Indeed, Pearce has quickly dropped at least 13 bills on the subject. He is expected to seek penalties against those who knowingly hire undocumented workers, an idea that resonates among Democrats and Republicans who recognize it as important factor in stemming the flow of people illegally crossing the U.S. -Mexico border.
Pearce is also seeking to bar illegal immigrants’ children born here from receiving government support, such as public education and health care. The measure is likely to be criticized as unconstitutional.
Verschoor rejected the notion that senators want to distance themselves from Pearce and that is why they have filed few or no bills directly affecting illegal immigration.
“I’m more than perfectly happy to be associated with Representative Pearce on any those of those bills,” he said.
Verschoor added it would be a “mistake to say that border security is not a high priority (in the Senate).”
“I think it’s one of the highest priorities here. I think you could say, though, that obviously the issue concerning transportation has obviously risen to almost as important an issue as border security,” he said.
One senator hinted a reason why there are fewer immigration-related bills in her chamber is because lawmakers are less likely to pursue a particular bill already vetoed by the governor.
Sen. Barbara Leff, R-11, said she sees no point in refiling a bill already rejected by Napolitano last year.
“My bill that the governor vetoed is going to get vetoed again, so I see no reason to run another piece of legislation that the governor will veto,” she said, referring to last year’s S1157, which would have made an illegal alien guilty of trespassing. The governor vetoed the bill, saying the measure was likely unconstitutional because it pre-empted the federal government in border enforcement activities. She also disagreed with the premise that the risk of misdemeanor trespass would deter people from unlawfully flocking to the state.
But Leff said it may be premature to conclude that senators will be less active in seeking legislation on illegal immigration.
“All the bills have not been dropped in the Senate yet. So I think we need to wait and see,” she said.