May 29, 2008
Immigration reform passes Legislature
By Tim Smith
STAFF WRITER
COLUMBIA -- After years of wrestling, the Legislature on Thursday gave final approval to a compromise immigration bill that will require all employers in the state to verify the legal status of new workers.
The House voted 94-16 to concur with a proposal approved by the Senate this week, sending the bill to Gov. Mark Sanford, who said he would sign it.
"Working together, we’ve put forth a bill that will make a difference when it comes to illegal immigration in South Carolina, and I look forward to signing it when it reaches my desk," Sanford said.
The bill requires all employers no matter their size to verify the legal status of their new workers beginning next summer, though businesses with fewer than 100 workers would have until the summer of 2010 to do so, and to use the federal electronic verification database or state driver’s licenses.
Employers who knowingly and intentionally hire illegal workers face a suspension or revocation of their ability to operate in the state under the bill, which grants each employer an imputed business license that can then be acted upon if companies violate the law.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison said, "I think what we have done today is protect the businesses of South Carolina, the employees of South Carolina and the taxpayers of South Carolina."
House Speaker Bobby Harrell said, "This bill does more than any other plan in the country to address the hundreds of millions of dollars illegal immigration is costing states each year,"
The bill makes haboring or transporting illegal residents a felony, requires jails to try to determine if prisoners are illegal residents and allows former employees to sue their former employer if the company fired the worker to replace him with an illegal worker.
The bill also prohibits illegal residents from attending public colleges or receiving scholarships and bans firms that hire illegals from receiving public contracts.
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/app...NEWS01/80529046/1004/NEWS01&template=printart
Immigration reform passes Legislature
By Tim Smith
STAFF WRITER
COLUMBIA -- After years of wrestling, the Legislature on Thursday gave final approval to a compromise immigration bill that will require all employers in the state to verify the legal status of new workers.
The House voted 94-16 to concur with a proposal approved by the Senate this week, sending the bill to Gov. Mark Sanford, who said he would sign it.
"Working together, we’ve put forth a bill that will make a difference when it comes to illegal immigration in South Carolina, and I look forward to signing it when it reaches my desk," Sanford said.
The bill requires all employers no matter their size to verify the legal status of their new workers beginning next summer, though businesses with fewer than 100 workers would have until the summer of 2010 to do so, and to use the federal electronic verification database or state driver’s licenses.
Employers who knowingly and intentionally hire illegal workers face a suspension or revocation of their ability to operate in the state under the bill, which grants each employer an imputed business license that can then be acted upon if companies violate the law.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison said, "I think what we have done today is protect the businesses of South Carolina, the employees of South Carolina and the taxpayers of South Carolina."
House Speaker Bobby Harrell said, "This bill does more than any other plan in the country to address the hundreds of millions of dollars illegal immigration is costing states each year,"
The bill makes haboring or transporting illegal residents a felony, requires jails to try to determine if prisoners are illegal residents and allows former employees to sue their former employer if the company fired the worker to replace him with an illegal worker.
The bill also prohibits illegal residents from attending public colleges or receiving scholarships and bans firms that hire illegals from receiving public contracts.
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/app...NEWS01/80529046/1004/NEWS01&template=printart
