Employer sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants could be headed to the ballot if the Senate softens the impact current legislation will have on businesses.
The bill’s sponsor says a move being considered in the Senate would gut the measure and would strengthen his resolve to put a stricter plan on the ballot in 2008.
The bill, in its current form, would require all businesses to file an affidavit with the Secretary of State’s Office pledging not to hire illegal immigrants. Businesses that hire illegal workers would face large fines and suspension or revocation of their business licenses for violating the affidavit.
After weeks of working with senators to make minor changes to the bill that would garner enough support for passage, Sen. Bob Burns said he may strike a “different approach” by amending the bill to strip the affidavit provision.
Burns said the concerns raised by senators during caucus discussions of the bill were legitimate. Going through the affidavit way creates a bureaucracy, he said, where a host of people are involved in developing and tracking forms. He said the major concern is that the current approach puts a “paperwork burden on every single employer in the state” when not everybody is hiring illegal workers.
“It was just something that we were having a difficult time getting our arms around, just to get the language clean enough so the system would even work,” he said.
Rep. Pearce: Amendment would gut bill
Rep. Russell Pearce, the bill’s sponsor, said such an amendment would “gut” H2779.
“It’s worse than having no bill at all,” Pearce, R-18, said.
“If that amendment goes on the bill, I’m not sure I’ll even go to conference because I’m not going to fight with the Senate. If they make that [bill] employer amnesty, it’s probably dead.”
Pearce said he would then shift his focus to an initiative he is spearheading. Known as Legal Arizona Workers, or LAW, the proposed ballot measure would require businesses to verify employees’ Social Security numbers and would revoke business licenses the first time a business hired an illegal worker.
Pearce said it may be the better option since it “can’t be messed with” by lawmakers if it is approved by voters. In 1998, voters amended the state Constitution to prohibit the Legislature from repealing any initiative measure approved by a majority of the voters. It also prohibits the Legislature from amending laws enacted or amended through an initiative or referendum without approval from at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the Legislature.
Burns’ amendment, according to an e-mail Pearce sent to supporters, would also create other exceptions in the legislation, including exempting “casual domestic employees” and “independent contractors” from sanctions. The amendment would also require all complaints against businesses to be filed in writing with a county attorney’s office or the Attorney General’s Office.
Pearce says the affidavits are essential to ensuring businesses don’t hire illegal workers, as the state cannot punish businesses for violating federal employment laws. The affidavit provides a work-around to that, since the businesses would be punished instead for false swearing if they hire illegal workers.
Senator: Affidavit requirement sends wrong message
But some senators expressed concerns about the message that would send to businesses. Sen. Jake Flake, R-5, said requiring businesses to pledge they aren’t knowingly hiring illegal immigrants seemed “un-American.”
“To me, it’s assuming you’re guilty until you’ve proven yourself innocent,” Flake said.
Sen. Robert Blendu, R-12, said H2779 in its current state is a knee-jerk reaction to the federal government’s inaction on the issue and is “unworkable” and “does damage to innocent people.”
His biggest fear is that the legislation would lean most heavily on people trying to comply. People who want to get around the system have always found a way do to so, he said.
“And the point is, if you are going to ignore the law, the law doesn’t matter. But how do we come up with a law that serves the people instead of binds them is our challenge,” he said.
To do that, and give businesses the tools they need to comply with the law, Blendu says he would like to require all businesses to verify the immigration status on employees with the Basic Pilot Program, the federal government’s Internet-based program that verifies an employee’s Social Security number. The state, he says, has been using a verification program to hire employees.
“Why don’t we look at what the state of Arizona does when they hire an employee and say, if that’s acceptable to the state of Arizona, why shouldn’t that same system be applied to our private people?” he said. “So, in other words, we cannot inflict — and this is what government always does — they inflict things on the private sector that they exempt themselves of.”
GOP Senator: Governor needs to be involved
A senior Republican publicly called on the Governor’s Office to get actively involved in the negotiations over the employer sanctions bill. On the Senate floor April 24, Majority Whip John Huppenthal made a speech imploring Gov. Janet Napolitano to tell lawmakers what she thinks of the bill.
Specifically, Huppenthal, R-20, wants to know whether the bill in its current form would be signed into law or vetoed.
“I just don’t think that the governor can stay up and do the ivory tower routine and wash her hands off the outcome that may come out of this, if this thing goes to the ballot,” he said. “And so, I’m going to call on the governor to send somebody down, to get personally involved herself, or send somebody down to negotiate the outcome of this issue.”
The whip reminded colleagues that the potential economic implication of such a measure is tremendous, “several quantum leaps” ahead than any other legislation now moving in the state.
“I got to know what the governor is going to do on this issue. We have this imperfect piece of legislation. We need to know, if this comes out of the Senate, will she sign it? This has implications,” Huppenthal said.
“We have an initiative from people who have put four straight [immigration-related] initiatives in the ballot. Every one has passed, I believe by higher than 68 percent (of the vote). And there is every indication that they can execute that same maneuver again,” he said.
Later that day, Huppenthal said he had talked to caucus members who “all have told me without reservation that they’re willing to stay [in session] until we get this one right.” He said involving the governor in the negotiations will likely extend the session.
“But we’ve got to do it because it dawned on me that, with the nature of the bill that we have in front of us, if I had to predict right now, the governor would veto it,” he said.
Napolitano’s office did not return a request for comment on Huppenthal’s invitation or on the legislation in general.
Assistant Senate Minority Leader Jorge Luis Garcia said he can’t remember when a governor was asked to directly negotiate the outcome of a bill. Garcia said the governor essentially agrees with legislative Democrats that employers who knowingly hire illegal workers should be sanctioned — but the responsibility lies with the federal government.
“My preference is that nothing gets done because that is a federal responsibility. And we start using state resources to enforce that federal responsibility… and that is where the rub comes,” he said.
Garcia suggested that, instead of the governor sending a negotiator, Huppenthal or Burns should submit their proposed changes to Napolitano’s lobbyist to get feedback.
He also criticized the Republicans for keeping his caucus out of the discussion.
“You know, it’s nice that they have invited the governor, but they sure haven’t invited the Democrats,” he said, pointing out the Democrats are “part of the body.”
Senate reporter Luige del Puerto contributed to this story.