House Committee on Economic and Business Development (03/22/2012)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Date:	03/22/2012	ATTENDANCE

Time:	01:43 PM to 04:15 PM	Balmer	X
		Holbert	X
Place:	HCR 0112	Miklosi	A
		Priola	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Singer	X
	Representative Liston	Soper	X
		Swerdfeger	X
This Report was prepared by		Szabo	X
	Christie Lee	Tyler	X
		Williams A.	X
		Wilson	X
		Swalm	X
		Liston	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
Presentation by Allan Roth HB12-1309		Witness Testimony and/or Committee Discussion Only Amended, Referred to Agriculture, Livestock, & Natural Resources

01:44 PM -- Presentation by Allan Roth

Allan Roth, a financial planner, introduced himself and distributed his presentation (Attachment A). He discussed practices done by financial planners. He explained that many financial planners are free of almost all regulatory oversight in Colorado.

01:56 PM

Mr. Roth responded to questions from the committee regarding laws that have been aimed at preventing false advertising. Representative Holbert talked about regulation versus aggressive enforcement.
02:03 PM -- House Bill 12-1309

Representatives Swalm and Looper, prime sponsors, presented House Bill 12-1309. With amendment L.002, this bill repeals the current requirements for employers to verify the legal work status of new employees and creates the Colorado Mandatory E-Verify Act (Attachment B). It requires all employers in Colorado to participate in the federal E-Verify program to verify the work eligibility status of newly hired employees on or after January 1, 2013. Employers are required to retain a copy of the employment eligibility information received from the program. Each employer will enter into an agreement as required by the United States Department of Homeland Security to participate in the E-Verify program and comply with the program requirements.

Employers who do not participate in the E-Verify program are subject to a fine of not more than $5,000 for the first offense, and not more than $25,000 for the second offense. Subsequent offenses are subject to a fine of not more than $25,000 and up to a six-month suspension of all the employer's business licenses. The bill includes a safe harbor provision for employers that comply in good faith with the act but unintentionally or unknowingly employ an unauthorized alien or wrongfully terminate an employee after receiving a final notice of nonconfirmation of work eligibility through the E-Verify program.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) must include notification of the bill requirements in its quarterly electronic publication to employers and on its website. The Secretary of State is also required to post the bill requirements on its website.

02:16 PM

The sponsors responded to questions from the committee.

02:29 PM -- Marc Arnusch, representing the Colorado Farm Bureau, testified against the bill and distributed a copy of his testimony (Attachment C). He talked about the inaccuracies of the E-Verify program and the problems it causes employers.

02:37 PM -- Kevin Paul, representing Heizer Paul Greuskin, testified against the bill. He talked about the difficulties in correcting a problem within eight days when living in a rural area. Mr. Paul responded to questions from the committee.

02:50 PM -- Justin Valis, representing the Asian Pacific Americans For Progress in Colorado, testified against the bill and against the E-Verify program. He distributed a handout concerning the impact of the program on Asian American Pacific Islander Workers (Attachment D).

02:56 PM -- George Awoer, representing the Bell Policy Center, testified against the bill. Representative Wilson talked about issues with Social Security Cards.

03:02 PM -- Travis Berry, representing the Colorado Competitive Council, testified against the bill. He said he was also expressing the opposition from the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce.

03:06 PM -- Ben Lawrence, representing himself, testified in support of the bill.

03:13 PM -- Fred Elbel, representing himself as a self-employed individual, and the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform testified in support of the bill. Representative Singer asked about other states that have implemented similar legislation and whether the illegal immigrant population has gone down as a result.

03:18 PM -- John Brick, representing the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, testified in support of the bill. He talked about the impact illegal immigration has on food safety.

03:21 PM -- Trudy Haines, representing herself as a human resources employee, testified in support of the bill. She said she would like to refute the claim that the program is burdensome to businesses, stating that the program can be accessed from any computer and only takes a few minutes to use. Ms. Haines also addressed the accuracy of the program.

03:29 PM -- Glenn Colton, representing himself as a registered Democrat and resident of Fort Collins, testified in support of the bill. He talked about the importance of the program in providing jobs to legal workers. Representative Singer asked about other states that have implemented similar legislation and whether the unemployment rate has gone down as a result. Mr. Colton said Georgia's unemployment rate went down one percent after passing this law.

03:33 PM -- Phil Cafaroe, representing Progressives for Immigration Reform, testified in support of the bill. He talked about the 220,000 people in Colorado on unemployment and stated the bill will help get people back to work. Mr. Cafaroe responded to questions from the committee regarding why employers would hire an illegal worker. Mr. Cafaroe talked about the fact that employers do not have to pay worker's compensation, unemployment, and health benefits for illegal employees. Representative Wilson also added that they are not paying income taxes as well.

03:49 PM -- Roger Hoffman, representing himself, a resident of Loveland, testified in support of the bill.

03:54 PM -- Stanley Weeks, representing the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, testified in support of the bill. He talked about contractors that can unfairly bid on jobs much lower because they are paying low wages to illegal immigrants than those who pay regular wages for legal workers.

03:56 PM -- Linda Knowlton, representing herself from Fort Collins, testified in support of the bill.


BILL:	HB12-1309
TIME:	03:57:35 PM
MOVED:	Swalm
MOTION:	Moved to adopt amendment L.002 (Attachment D). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Liston
		VOTE
	Balmer
	Holbert
	Miklosi	Absent
	Priola
	Singer
	Soper
	Swerdfeger
	Szabo
	Tyler
	Williams A.
	Wilson
	Swalm
	Liston

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

03:58 PM

Representatives Looper and Swalm gave some closing remarks about the bill. Committee members also commented on the bill.


BILL:	HB12-1309
TIME:	04:08:20 PM
MOVED:	Swerdfeger
MOTION:	Moved to refer House Bill 12-1309, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole (see substitute motion).
SECONDED:
		VOTE
	Balmer
	Holbert
	Miklosi	Absent
	Priola
	Singer
	Soper
	Swerdfeger
	Szabo
	Tyler
	Williams A.
	Wilson
	Swalm
	Liston

YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION:


BILL:	HB12-1309
TIME:	04:08:28 PM
MOVED:	Priola
MOTION:	Substitute motion to move the bill to the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources, as amended. The motion passed on a vote of 7-5.
SECONDED:	Szabo
		VOTE
	Balmer	No
	Holbert	No
	Miklosi	Absent
	Priola	Yes
	Singer	Yes
	Soper	No
	Swerdfeger	No
	Szabo	Yes
	Tyler	Yes
	Williams A.	Yes
	Wilson	Yes
	Swalm	No
	Liston	Yes

YES: 7 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 1 FINAL ACTION: PASS

04:15 PM

The committee adjourned.