Representative Brian S. King
District 28, Salt Lake City
Many residents in my district have contacted me expressing their concern with Senate Bill 81, a comprehensive immigration reform bill that was passed in the legislature last year. Fortunately, Representative Stephen Clark, R–Salt Lake City has brought forth House Bill 107, which delays Senate Bill 81 for a year while we study what impacts this may have upon Utah’s economy. Unfortuately, the bill has been held in the House Business and Labor Committee until further notice.
I agree with Representative Clark, and I hope we can move this bill forward. I’d like to push this off for another year in the hopes that we have a more comprehensive solution to the immigration issues from the place it should be coming from: the federal government. I think it is difficult for the states to put together anything but a patchwork solution to deal with this problem. In addition, SB 81 strikes me as a very one-sided approach to dealing with illegal immigration problems. If we are going to come down on the illegal immigrant and his or her family like a ton of bricks, we have on obligation to punish employers who hire those illegal workers with the same vigor. We both know that is not going to happen.
In addition, I believe the challenge of deputizing local law enforcement officials to enforce SB 81 will be a very expensive proposition. In my opinion, the $1.8 million fiscal note associated with SB 81, large as it is, tremendously understates the cost of enforcing the new law. Those pushing for more strict enforcement of immigration laws complain that we cannot allow continued flouting of existing laws but ignore the fact that the costs of enforcement of SB 81 all but guarantee that it too will be largely ignored.
One of the few things I think President Bush had somewhat right was his approach to immigration reform. Unfortunately, he was not able to get that off the ground at all during his second term.