I received an e-mail alert from The Interfaith Alliance Iowa Action Fund today.
Apparently the House Labor Committee is considering a very bad bill in an effort to look “tough” on immigration.
The full text of the action alert is after the jump. It summarizes the main features of the bill and provides talking points you can use with legislators, along with the relevant contact e-mails and phone numbers.
My opinion is that a phone call from a constituent is harder to ignore than an e-mail message.
UPDATE: This article about the bill ran on the front page of the Des Moines Register on Tuesday:
http://www.desmoinesregister.c…
Dear Action Fund Activists and Friends,
TIA Iowa Action Fund is a member of the Iowa Immigration Education Coalition, which is comprised of organizations and individuals from the faith community, civil rights, labor, business, education, law enforcement, and more. The Coalition worked tirelessly to oppose HF 2026, which seeks to impose sanctions on employers who hire undocumented workers. Thanks to your efforts as grassroots activists and the intense, collaborative work of the Coalition, this bill appears to be dead.
However, the news is not all good. A new bill, House Study Bill (HSB) 717, was introduced late last week by the House Labor Committee. HSB 717 expands the definition of identity theft to include use of fictitious identities; requires an Iowa driver’s license or non-resident identification card issued by the Iowa Department of Motor Vehicles for employment by all new workers; creates a State I-9 bureaucracy (but only allows one kind of ID – an Iowa driver’s license or non-resident ID card) in addition to Federal I-9 requirements; authorizes Iowa Workforce Development to enforce the new law and impose discretionary fines after the first violation; and makes it a Class D felony to use a false ID to secure employment.
Although there is little public support for HSB 717, it appears to be on the fast track. Many organizations, lobby groups, and activists believe it is worse than HF 2026. Legislators believe they have to do something to be “tough on immigration”.
Legislators need to hear from the public and why you oppose this new anti-immigrant, anti-civil rights, anti-worker, and anti-business bill.
HSB 717 Labor subcommittee may meet and pass the bill yet this week. A vote of the full House Labor Committee is expected immediately following (perhaps later this week) but no later than Thursday, March 6 (first funnel deadline to keep bills alive).
What You Can Do
1. Contact HSB 717 subcommittee members
2. Contact all other House Labor Committee members
3. Contact Representative Kevin McCarthy , Representative Pat Murphy , Senator Mike Gronstal , Senator Jack Kibbie , and Governor Chet Culver to voice your concerns to them as well.Members of the House Labor Committee:
Rick.Olson@legis.state.ia.us, Labor Committee Chair; and Chair of HSB 717 Subcommittee
Lance.Horbach@legis.state.ia.us, Ranking minority member; and member of HSB 717 Subcommittee
Eric.Palmer@legis.state.ia.us
Todd.Taylor@legis.state.ia.us
Ako.Abdul-Samad@legis.state.ia.us
Royd.Chambers@legis.state.ia.us
Pat.Grassley@legis.state.ia.us
Bruce.Hunter@legis.state.ia.us
Pam.Jochum@legis.state.ia.us
Mary.Mascher@legis.state.ia.us
Christopher.Rants@legis.state.ia.us
Art.Staed@legis.state.ia.us
Jodi.Tymeson@legis.state.ia.us
Jim.Van.Engelenhoven@legis.state.ia.us
Ralph.Watts@legis.state.ia.us
Cindy.Winckler@legis.state.ia.us, Member of HSB 717 Subcommittee
Ray.Zirkelbach@legis.state.ia.us
House Switchboard: (515) 281-3221
Senate Switchboard: (515) 281-3371
House and Senate Leadership
Rep. Pat Murphy, Speaker of the House Pat.Murphy@legis.state.ia.us
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader Kevin.McCarthy@legis.state.ia.us
Senator Mike Gronstal, Senate Majority Leader Michael.Gronstal@legis.state.ia.us
Senator Jack Kibbie, President of the Senate John.Kibbie@legis.state.ia.us
Governor Chet Culver
Email (via website): www.governor.iowa.gov
Call: (515) 281-5211
HSB 717 – Talking Points
1. Immigration policy is the responsibility of the federal government. Ask legislators and the Governor to work with Iowa ‘s Congressional delegation to work toward fair and humane comprehensive federal immigration reform.
2. Iowa will see unintended consequences.o Legal immigrant family members will leave to protect undocumented family members.
o Main street businesses will lose workers and shoppers; schools will lose students; apartment owners will lose renters, and more.
o For those immigrants who stay in Iowa , HSB 717 will drive them further into the shadows and increase the likelihood that undocumented workers become further abused because they cannot change jobs.
2. Racial profiling and discrimination will increase. Legal immigrants already report incidents of racial profiling. Some Iowans assume all immigrants, especially Latinos, brown or black-skinned people, and those speaking with an accent or in non-western dress, are not here legally. As we saw when English Only passed several years ago, the general public will mistakenly believe an ID is required in many other venues besides employment, such as renting a house or making a major purchase.
3. Removes the welcome sign to all, immigrant and non-immigrant. Immigrants provide many benefits to Iowa including: improving the diversity in Iowa ‘s population, meeting worker shortage needs, fueling population growth in Iowa ‘s communities, creating business, and providing jobs. HSB 717 puts up the UN-welcome sign to immigrants, as well as non-immigrants, workers and businesses.
4. HSB 717 is anti-worker because it requires workers who change jobs to jump through an extra hoop. The bill places a burden and expense on the poor who don’t drive. It requires all out-of-state workers to get a non-operator Iowa ID.
5. HSB 717 is anti-business. A state I-9 system duplicates the federal I-9 system, creating additional bureaucracy and potential for additional fines. This is bad for Iowa ‘s economic development, especially in border communities.
6. HSB 717 will not protect Iowans from identity theft and may in fact contribute to its abuse. Those who work with Iowa immigrants report how IDs are being used to scam undocumented workers. This is how it works: A US citizen “leases” his/her ID for a small sum (e.g. $50) to an undocumented person seeking work. The benefit to the US citizen is that the undocumented worker’s earnings are credited to the citizen’s social security account. Should the citizen be confronted about this, he/she says the ID was stolen. The citizen goes free and the undocumented worker goes to jail.