Georgia Senate Approves Final Version of Illegal Immigration Bill

by Vicki Eckenrode
Morris News Service

Legislators worked out a compromise Monday, March 27 on illegal immigration reform in the state, removing an earlier requirement for undocumented residents to pay a fee when they send money back home. "The most contentious issue was the 5-percent money transfer fee," said Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, who wrote the original bill.

The newest version of Senate Bill 529 also got rid of a proposed state worker verification program that would have been run through the Georgia Department of Labor. But the major portions of the legislation, dubbed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, remained in place after a group of lawmakers from both chambers worked out the final details.

The final bill passed 39-16 in the Senate on that Monday. The House could take up the measure and send it to Gov. Sonny Perdue for its final hurdle.

Perdue's staff member said that the governor needed time to look over the bill's numerous provisions before deciding if he would sign it into law. "This bill was a work in progress up to the very end," Perdue's spokeswoman Heather Hedrick said, adding that the governor has said in the past that the state should make sure that public benefits like Medicaid are going to legal residents. Adult illegal immigrants would have to show that to receive many tax-funded benefits, under the bill. Immunization, prenatal health care and emergency medical services, however, would not be blocked.

Lawmakers pushed the bill this year as a way to address the growing numbers of illegal immigrants living in Georgia, especially with federal-level reforms floundering in recent years. The legislation has prompted a wave of criticism from Latino advocacy groups along with work stoppage and widespread rallies last week among Hispanic workers and business owners.

The measure requires any workers involved in state or local government projects to have their legal status checked against federal records with the Department of Transportation in charge of coming up with how to implement that requirement on road projects.

By having the DOT becoming involved in illegal immigration control, shows how far the state has overstepped its bounds on the issue, said Sen. Sam Zamarripa, D-Atlanta and the upper chamber's leading critic on the bill. "That's how absurd it is when states get involved in federal issues," he said. "Immigration reform can only be accomplished within the authority that has the ability to grant visas. That authority rests entirely with the federal government."

While Sen. Jeff Chapman, R-Brunswick, agreed that the federal government needs to respond, he said he has no problem with the state playing a role before then. "I think it's become the general consensus that we also move forward with whatever we can do as state legislators," he said.

The bill also addresses private employers who use undocumented workers by not allowing them to deduct payroll expenses from state taxes. Sen. Ed Tarver, D-Augusta, who voted against the bill said it should have been stricter on employers who attract illegal immigrant workers. "I disagree with the way bill is structured," he said.

What Senate Bill 529 does:

- requires anyone contracting with state or local governments to verify all workers' legal status through a federal program starting next year for large companies and in 2009 for all contractors.

- makes human trafficking for labor or sex a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

- has local jailers to check the nationality of anyone charged with a felony or driving under the influence and notify federal Homeland Security officials of anyone who is not legally in the country.

- mandates disclosure by so-called "notarios" who offer immigration assistance services to customers that they are not licensed lawyers and cannot provide legal advice.

- states that if a business pays a worker making $600 or more a year, the employer has to have record of their documentation or state driver's license in order to deduct those pay expenses from state taxes. The rule would not apply to people hired before January of 2008.

- requires adults to state they are legally in the United States to receive many tax-funded benefits.

What Senate Bill 529 does not do:

- does not block anyone from receiving emergency medical care, emergency disaster relief, immunizations or help from services, such as soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention programs.

- does not prevent public services for children or prenatal care for pregnant women.

- does not bar students from attending state colleges and universities as long as non-residents do not receive in-state tuition.