The legislation sponsored by state Rep. Matt Ramsey, a Peachtree City Republican, passed out of the House Judiciary Non-Civil committee and will now move on to the House Rules committee, which will decide if and when it gets a full House vote. Ramsey said he's hoping for a floor vote by the end of the week and said he's optimistic the bill will pass.
House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, an Atlanta Democrat, moved unsuccessfully to table the bill in committee, saying it had ``several constitutional and substantive impediments.''
The bill would require all employers in Georgia with more than four employees to verify the immigration status of new hires using a federal database called E-Verify. Unlike a similar bill that is under consideration by a Senate committee, Ramsey's bill provides no exception for employers who use certain federal work visa programs to bring in foreign workers.
``I continue to believe that the notion of picking one industry to be exempt from requirements of mandatory E-Verify is bad policy,'' Ramsey said before the committee vote.
A new provision added late last week would make it a felony punishable by one to 15 years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000 to present false documentation or information when applying for a job.
Another change applies to law enforcement officers dealing with criminal suspects.The original version of the bill would have required law enforcement officers, when stopping a criminal suspect, to try to determine an individual's immigration status if an officer ``develops reasonable suspicion'' that the person is an illegal immigrant. The version that passed Monday removes the ``reasonable suspicion'' language and says officers ``shall be authorized to seek to verify'' a suspect's immigration status if the suspect is unable to provide an accepted form of identification.
Earlier versions provided for penalties for a person who harbors or transports an illegal immigrant. During public testimony a few weeks ago, several people raised concerns that this could end up penalizing churches or charitable groups.
The new version says penalties will apply only if the person, while committing another criminal offense, knowingly and willingly transports an illegal immigrant ``for the purpose of furthering the illegal presence'' of that person.
Ramsey acknowledged after the hearing that penalties would still apply to people doing church or charitable work if they were stopped for another reason for example a traffic offense and they were transporting a person they knew to be in the country illegally.
Abrams argued that the bill could harm the state's reputation and economic well-being.
``I'm deeply concerned about the impact of this bill on the bottom line of the state at a time of economic downturn,'' she said.
She also raised concerns about racial profiling a common complaint from civil liberties groups about this and similar bills. Abrams also said she doubts that recently added provisions meant to protect officials from frivolous lawsuits were sufficient to shield cash-strapped local governments from having to spend money defending themselves.
Ramsey's bill allows individual citizens to bring a lawsuit against a local government or government agency if they believe the entity is not complying with the requirement to use E-Verify. In a version submitted to committee members over the weekend, Ramsey added what he called a ``notice and cure period'' to give entities that are unknowingly violating the requirements a chance to bring themselves into compliance before litigation could begin.
State Rep. Matt Ramsey
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/2/236594