Colorado & Denver News

by Raj Chohan
DENVER (CBS4) ― Reality Check is the name of a new set of special reports by CBS4 reporter Raj Chohan.

In the June 6 Reality Check, Chohan analyzed the Colorado state legislature's special session. See his full report in the video clip at right. His complete notes on the report lie below.

Reporter notes and sourcing:

When I first started looking into the special session, my primary concern was to figure out whether this was going to be a case of symbolism over substance. Clearly illegal immigration is a hot button election issue, locally and nationally. No one running for office this fall wants to be caught flat-footed on this very important issue. Everyone wants to say they did something, one way or the other.

After the Colorado Supreme Court threw out the ballot initiative put together by former Colorado governor Dick Lamm's Defend Colorado Now organization, it was pretty clear many Republican lawmakers were incensed. Gov. Bill Owens, irritated by the court ruling, announced a special session to take on the issues that voters would have considered in the ballot initiative.

As the debate appeared ready to boil over, a surprising compromise emerged between the two most vocal players in the immigration battle. Former Denver mayor Federico Pena, whose Keep Colorado Safe organization fought against the ballot measure, found common ground with ballot initiative proponent Dick Lamm. Here is the joint statement they released (from a special section of the Keep Colorado Safe Web site):

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Immigration Compromise Reached

June 28th, 2006

Dick Lamm, of Defend Colorado Now, and Federico Pena, of Keep Colorado Safe, have issued the following joint statement on behalf of their organizations:

Our nation's immigration system is broken and in dire need of comprehensive reform. At a state level, we can contribute to the solution by verifying the legal status of applicants for employment and public assistance.

Both Defend Colorado Now and Keep Colorado Safe support this statutory approach. Accordingly, we are asking the Colorado General Assembly to pass, and the governor to sign, a law modeled on Sections 7, 8 and 9 of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. This law would be more effective and more practical than Initiative 55.

The legislature and the governor can and should enact such a measure, by statute, in a special session. We urge them to do so now, rather than delay a vote until November.

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From a reporter's perspective, the next step is take a look at the Georgia law, see what it says, and what it would do. Here are the relevant sections I found on the Georgia general assembly Web site:

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SECTION 7.

Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to revenue and taxation, is amended by adding a new Code section immediately following Code Section 48-7-21, to be designated Code Section 48-7-21.1, to read as follows:

"48-7-21.1.

(a) As used in this Code section, the term:

(1) 'Authorized employee' means any individual authorized for employment in the United States as defined in paragraph (2) of subsection (a) of 8 U.S.C. Section 1324a.

(2) 'Labor services' means the physical performance of services in this state.

(b) On or after January 1, 2008, no wages or remuneration for labor services to an individual of $600.00 or more per annum may be claimed and allowed as a deductible business expense for state income tax purposes by a taxpayer unless such individual is an authorized employee. The provisions of this subsection shall apply whether or not an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 is issued in conjunction with the wages or remuneration.

(c) This Code section shall not apply to any business domiciled in this state which is exempt from compliance with federal employment verification procedures under federal law which makes the employment of unauthorized aliens unlawful.

(d) This Code section shall not apply to any individual hired by the taxpayer prior to January 1, 2008.

(e) This Code section shall not apply to any taxpayer where the individual being paid is not directly compensated or employed by said taxpayer.

(f) This Code section shall not apply to wages or remuneration paid for labor services to any individual who holds and presents to the taxpayer a valid license or identification card issued by the Georgia Department of Driver Services.

(g) The commissioner is authorized to prescribe forms and promulgate rules and regulations deemed necessary in order to administer and effectuate this Code section."

SECTION 8.

Said title is further amended in Code Section 48-7-101, relating to income tax withholding, by adding a new subsection at the end thereof, to be designated subsection (i), to read as follows:

"(i) Form 1099 withholding and reporting.

(1) A withholding agent shall be required to withhold state income tax at the rate of 6 percent of the amount of compensation paid to an individual which compensation is reported on Form 1099 and with respect to which the individual has:

(A) Failed to provide a taxpayer identification number;

(B) Failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; or

(C) Provided an Internal Revenue Service issued taxpayer identification number issued for nonresident aliens.

(2) Any withholding agent who fails to comply with the withholding requirements of this subsection shall be liable for the taxes required to have been withheld unless such withholding agent is exempt from federal withholding with respect to such individual pursuant to a properly filed Internal Revenue Service Form 8233 and has provided a copy of such form to the commissioner."

SECTION 9.

Title 50 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to state government, is amended by adding a new chapter at the end thereof, to be designated Chapter 36, to read as follows:

"CHAPTER 36

50-36-1.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this Code section or where exempted by federal law, on or after July 1, 2007, every agency or a political subdivision of this state shall verify the lawful presence in the United States of any natural person 18 years of age or older who has applied for state or local public benefits, as defined in 8 U.S.C. Section 1621, or for federal public benefits, as defined in 8 U.S.C. Section 1611, that is administered by an agency or a political subdivision of this state.

(b) This Code section shall be enforced without regard to race, religion, gender, ethnicity, or national origin.

(c) Verification of lawful presence under this Code section shall not be required:

(1) For any purpose for which lawful presence in the United States is not required by law, ordinance, or regulation;

(2) For assistance for health care items and services that are necessary for the treatment of an emergency medical condition, as defined in 42 U.S.C. Section 1396b(v)(3), of the alien involved and are not related to an organ transplant procedure;

(3) For short-term, noncash, in-kind emergency disaster relief;

(4) For public health assistance for immunizations with respect to immunizable diseases and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases whether or not such symptoms are caused by a communicable disease; or

(5) For programs, services, or assistance such as soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention, and short-term shelter specified by the United States Attorney General, in the United States Attorney General´s sole and unreviewable discretion after consultation with appropriate federal agencies and departments, which:

(A) Deliver in-kind services at the community level, including through public or private nonprofit agencies;

(B) Do not condition the provision of assistance, the amount of assistance provided, or the cost of assistance provided on the individual recipient´s income or resources; and

(C) Are necessary for the protection of life or safety.

(6) For prenatal care; or

(7) For postsecondary education, whereby the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia or the State Board of Technical and Adult Education shall set forth, or cause to be set forth, policies regarding postsecondary benefits that comply with all federal law including but not limited to public benefits as described in 8 U.S.C. Section 1611, 1621, or 1623.

(d) Verification of lawful presence in the United States by the agency or political subdivision required to make such verification shall occur as follows:

(1) The applicant must execute an affidavit that he or she is a United States citizen or legal permanent resident 18 years of age or older; or

(2) The applicant must execute an affidavit that he or she is a qualified alien or nonimmigrant under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act 18 years of age or older lawfully present in the United States.

(e) For any applicant who has executed an affidavit that he or she is an alien lawfully present in the United States, eligibility for benefits shall be made through the Systematic Alien Verification of Entitlement (SAVE) program operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security or a successor program designated by the United States Department of Homeland Security. Until such eligibility verification is made, the affidavit may be presumed to be proof of lawful presence for the purposes of this Code section.

(f) Any person who knowingly and willfully makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement of representation in an affidavit executed pursuant to subsection (d) of this Code section shall be guilty of a violation of Code Section 16-10-20.

(g) Agencies or political subdivisions of this state may adopt variations to the requirements of this Code section to improve efficiency or reduce delay in the verification process or to provide for adjudication of unique individual circumstances where the verification procedures in this Code section would impose unusual hardship on a legal resident of Georgia.

(h) It shall be unlawful for any agency or a political subdivision of this state to provide any state, local, or federal benefit, as defined in 8 U.S.C. Section 1621 or 8 U.S.C. Section 1611, in violation of this Code section. Each state agency or department which administers any program of state or local public benefits shall provide an annual report with respect to its compliance with this Code section.

(i) Any and all errors and significant delays by SAVE shall be reported to the United States Department of Security and to the Secretary of State which will monitor SAVE and its verification application errors and significant delays and report yearly on such errors and significant delays to ensure that the application of SAVE is not wrongfully denying benefits to legal residents of Georgia.

(j) Notwithstanding subsection (f) of this Code section any applicant for federal benefits as defined in 8 U.S.C. Section 1611 or state or local benefits as defined in 8 U.S.C. Section 1621 shall not be guilty of any crime for executing an affidavit attesting to lawful presence in the United States that contains a false statement if said affidavit is not required by this Code section."

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I called the two sponsors of the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. I left a message with Georgia State Sen. Chip Rogers, and reached by phone Georgia state Rep. John Lunsford.

Lunsford explained that the law was designed to be implemented over several years.

Currently the most meaningful portion of the law in effect is the section that bars the state of Georgia or any of its subsidiaries from hiring Illegal immigrants. In 2007, 2008, some of the other provisions kick in. These include the requirements that private employers verify their workers are legally in the country. The law also taxes undocumented workers with a 6% state withholding. The law aims at cutting off non emergency social welfare type services, as well as targeting employers who hire illegal immigrants. As Lunsford and others have explained, the Georgia law is considered the toughest illegal immigration law in the country. However, because the law has not yet been fully phased in, there's no way to determine yet whether its working. There's also no reliable numbers at this time to show what impact its having on state services to illegal immigrants.

For a brief fact sheet on the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, check out a special section of Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue's Web site:

Now that I had a sense of what the Georgia law was about, I called some of the key players in the current debate here in Colorado. Specifically, I called Federico Pena, Dick Lamm, Gov. Bill Owens office, and I reviewed several interviews CBS4 had done with Democrat House Speaker Andrew Romanoff.

Former Denver mayor Federico Pena explained why he didn't like ballot initiative 55.

First, he doesn't like the implications 55 would have for public health. Intitiative 55 doesn't include things like pre-natal care and child immunizations, so you might reasonably anticipate kids coming to school with whooping cough, or babies with emergency health issues that are paid for by taxpayers because there was no adequate pre-natal care for the illegal immigrant mother.

Secondly, he feels it would have been bad public policy. He said 55's language is overly vague and indefinite, and would have been placed in the state Constitution, which he feels is a sacred document and should only contain proposals that are well thought out.

Finally, Pena disagrees with the clause of 55 that would have allowed anyone to bring lawsuits against state and local government agencies that don't comply. He argues it would have exposed every level of government to endless litigation. The former mayor prefers a thoughtful legislative solution involving testimony, debate, etc.

While my intitial feelings about the special session were those of a skeptic, I came away with some degree of optimism that the session could produce something of substance, after talking to Dick Lamm. He believes Democrats are feeling the pressure, and that Republicans are "smelling blood." He makes a convincing argument that the Dems will want to walk away with something they can tout to voters in the fall election. Since both Owens and Romanoff have signalled a willingness to compromise, it's likely, Dick Lamm believes, that we'll see something in legislation, similar to the compromise reached by Lamm and Pena.

During a conversation with Owens' spokesman Dan Hopkins, I came away with the feeling that the governor is open to a legislative solution and not necessarily committed to the notion of a constitutional ammendment as the ballot initiative option would have implemented. Furthermore, the governor believes there is a bi-partisan spirit here, and that the session may be wrapped up in just a few days.

Romanoff is equally optimistic. While Dems favor the controls on employers to make sure they verify their employees are legal, there is room in the negotiations as well for the prong of the Georgia law Colorado republican lawmakers generally favor, which is to cut off non-emergency, non-federally mandated services to illegal immigrants.

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