Senate backs immigration bill

June 10, 2008 by senatormcconnell

Sanford praises plan as strong, enforceable

The third time may prove to be the charm on immigration legislation in the Senate and possibly for the Legislature.

With little debate, senators on Tuesday gave key approval to the third compromise plan on immigration to originate in the Senate this year, led by Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell.

If approved today by senators and concurred on by the House later this week, the legislation will be sent to Gov. Mark Sanford with days to spare before the end of the legislative session.
Sanford praised the bill as a good one in a statement after the vote.

“There’s been a lot of back and forth on this bill over the past few weeks, but we believe the end result that the Senate approved today is what everyone was after the whole time — a strong and enforceable immigration bill,” he said.

McConnell unveiled the proposal Thursday after a week of shuttling the plan to House leaders. McConnell said he believes the House will approve the proposal and believes all problems have been addressed. He asked for patience on everyone’s part to pass the measure, which has bedeviled legislators for two years.

“We are simply running out of time,” he said.

The proposal is largely the same as one passed and agreed to by both chambers earlier this year. The final sticking point was how to handle private employers and illegal workers.

McConnell’s plan would require that employers use the federal electronic verification system, known as E-verify, or a South Carolina driver’s license to verify a worker’s legal status. Employers also could use another state’s driver’s license, provided it has been approved as having the same stringent document requirements that South Carolina has.

Employers would have five days from the date of hiring to verify a worker under the plan. If they fail to verify a worker and are caught by state officials, they would still have several days to verify the worker if it was their first offense.

If they continued to use the worker after discovering the employee was illegal, the company could have its ability to operate in the state suspended for 10 days. Repeated such offenses could subject the firm to permanent revocation of its right to operate, said McConnell, who has described the measure as the toughest immigration law in the nation.

The Senate approved the plan, tacked onto an early House version of immigration legislation, by a voice vote.

By Tim Smith
The Greenville News
May 28, 2008

Comments