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Scaled-back immigration bill faltering

  March 10, 2008

Legislators declared illegal-immigration reform one of their top priorities at the beginning of the session. But as they head back for a final few days this week, a compromise bill is foundering.

The measure, significantly scaled back from earlier proposals, rankles lawmakers from both parties. Some Republicans say it doesn't do enough to go after illegal immigrants. Some Democrats say it doesn't punish the employers who hire them.

House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, said it would be "very unfortunate" if the Legislature ended its work without a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

But he cautioned that the bill isn't likely to please people on either side of the contentious issue.

"There's not going to be an immigration bill that anyone likes," he said. "Immigration is no different than any issue -- there's no silver bullet, no one-year solution. Big issues are like that."

The compromise legislation cut out penalties for employers that misclassify employees as contract workers -- one way to avoid taxes and checking employment eligibility. That has become a major point of contention.

"It's a deal breaker for me," said Rep. Judith Loganbill, D-Wichita, who was on the six-member conference committee and refused to sign off on the changes.

The bill could have advanced without Loganbill's agreement if the full House had approved a motion to "agree to disagree" on the last day of the regular session.

But it voted 59-57 to send the bill back to the conference committee. The committee still is looking to the House.

The House could hold another vote on the report Wednesday and accept the measure, said Rep. Arlen Siegfreid, R-Olathe, the House's top member on the conference committee.

If that doesn't happen, said Sen. Pete Brungardt, R-Salina, who heads the conference committee, he will talk to leadership of both chambers to gauge how important the issue is before calling the committee back to try to resolve the problems.

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