Myriad Amendments • Sen. Ron Gould opposes a bill that would create an Arizona guest-worker program and has threatened to use a host of amendments to stall it, prevent it from passing or alter it dramatically.

The threat of a barrage of amendments has stalled a proposal to allow Arizona businesses experiencing a labor shortage to hire workers from Mexico, which could mean trouble for the state’s agriculture and construction industries.
Legislation to create an Arizona-only guest-worker program was scheduled for deliberation in the state Senate on May 5, but its sponsors decided to hold it after a senator indicated he was planning to offer more than a dozen “hostile” amendments.
And at least three other lawmakers have prepared floor amendments to modify the bill that would create The Arizona Temporary Workers Program (S1508).
The threat of amendments was a signal that lawmakers still have lingering questions and concerns about the proposal, even after its sponsors incorporated changes requested by a state representative largely regarded as the foremost immigration hawk in Arizona.
And it could spell trouble for the legislation leading to a longer and more complex battle than supporters first envisioned, as critics may consider one amendment after another followed by procedural moves meant to slow down, if not derail, its passage. 
The official explanation for the bill’s delay is that senators have asked for additional time to study the proposed amendments; hence, the decision to forestall the floor debate.
“I think we need to take time for the members to have the opportunity to review every amendment that is to be offered,” said Senate President Tim Bee, a co-sponsor of the legislation.
But Bee and Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger, the proposal’s primary sponsor, maintained that there is adequate support in the chamber to move the legislation forward. 
Senators spotted trouble on May 5 as soon as pages started bringing in stacks of amendments. A total of 19 amendments were set to be offered by lawmakers — 15 from Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City; two from Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise; and one each from Sen. Tom O’Halleran, R-Sedona, and Sen. Linda Gray, R-Glendale.
The Senate decided to retain the bill and the accompanying memorial to Congress, rather than put them up for deliberation. The idea was to take it up later; in this case, within the week. But that didn’t happen.
The legislation, which was re-scheduled for a Committee of the Whole (COW) deliberation on May 7, was taken off the calendar. COW is a stage in the legislative process that allows for amendments to be adopted, and it is usually a setting in which senators deliver their most passionate speeches to support or oppose a bill.
If a bill is passed in COW, it goes back to the floor for a formal vote by the full Senate.
The guest-worker-program legislation in the Senate has a similar version in the House. The plan is to substitute one for the other at a certain stage to fast-track its passage. 
But supporters would have to get past Gould to move the Senate measure forward, and some already view his barrage of amendments as a de-facto filibuster.
And Gould said he might, indeed, actually filibuster if his amendments are not adopted.
“I will not be a party to selling out the Arizona worker,” he has told colleagues.
Arzberger said she is ready for the amendments, one of which would prohibit employers eligible to participate in the program from recruiting pregnant workers and would require the Industrial Commission of Arizona to revoke the identification card of a temporary worker who becomes pregnant while working in the state. 
The amendment is consistent with the views of Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, chairman of the influential House Appropriations Committee and author of last year’s employer sanctions law. Pearce negotiated with Arzberger and other lawmakers over the legislation, but eventually decided to oppose the bill even after it was modified to address the concerns he had raised.
Pearce’s main objection to the bill was that it’s too broad.
“It is everything for everybody,” he said. “It’s business as usual.”
Pearce has said migrant women workers who become pregnant should return to their country to deliver the baby. A baby born in the U.S. automatically has rights to U.S. citizenship.
 But Arzberger said the amendment would violate federal law. Specifically, she cited the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and states that an employer cannot refuse to hire a woman on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.
Certain elements of the Gould amendments, however, might be accepted, according to Arzberger. She said a substitute amendment to incorporate those is being prepared. An amendment by another lawmaker likely will be accepted as well.
 “This is not an immigration bill. It is about filling the need for workers in this state. It’s an economic issue,” Arzberger said.
Many industry groups and business leaders in Arizona have thrown their support behind the legislation, saying it will provide relief in their struggle to fill the labor gap that they say was compounded by the passage last year of law to punish employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.
Gould countered that his amendments “actually make the bill a workable guest-worker program.” But he admitted they are hostile. If they were adopted, Gould said he does not think the bill would move forward.
“I think the amendments will kill the bill,” Gould said, adding that sponsors would cease to move the legislation forward with those changes on them. See related story on the Gould Amendments at http://www.azcapitoltimes.com/story.cfm≠id=8625