State lawmakers let guest worker bill die

  PHOENIX - Arizona will not get a chance to set up its own guest worker program.

  State lawmakers adjourned the session late Friday without bringing the proposal to the floor for a vote. Senate Minority Leader Marsha Arzberger, D-Willcox, admitted she did not have the votes.

  SB 1508 would have allowed companies that could not get workers in this country to recruit them instead in Mexico.

  Arzberger said Arizona firms already were suffering because of the lack of qualified workers before the employer sanctions law took effect in January. She said that is because the federal government does not provide enough temporary work visas to meet the legitimate needs of companies here.

  That measure allows a judge to suspend the state licenses of any firm found guilty of knowingly hiring undocumented workers. A second violation within three years puts the company out of business.

  "Here we are standing alone with the most stringent employer sanctions law in the nation and we couldn't balance it with a legal program for immigrant workers,'' Arzberger said. "That puts us in the economic cellar.''

  Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, questioned that assumption, citing the state's rising unemployment rate.

  "It's a slap in the face, at a time we're laying off American workers, to want to import more foreign workers,'' he said.

  Pearce said he was willing to consider a guest workers program for agriculture, given the necessity of farmers to harvest their crops and Americans to have fresh produce. But he said anything else made no sense.

  "I don't have to buy fast food,'' he said. "I don't need somebody else to wash my car.''

  But Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, who co-wrote the measure, said other segments of the economy are suffering, too.

  He cited the testimony of the owner of a Phoenix steel- fabricating firm who said he had to get rid of 12 of his 40 production workers because they could not prove they were in this country legally. Sheridan Bailey said without the ability to hire foreign workers, his company and others will be unable to remain fully staffed.

  Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, said the legislation lacked other safeguards. One he wanted in particular was a provision which said that children born to temporary workers while they are in this country are not entitled to claim U.S. citizenship.

  Gould said that was designed to combat court rulings which have concluded that anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically a U.S. citizen. He said that creates "anchor babies,'' with their families then seeking permission to remain in this country.

  Even if the legislation had become law, there was no guarantee the program would be established. Arizona still would need approval of either Congress or at least the Department of Homeland Security to allow foreign workers to enter the state.