Voters may have say on employer sanctions law

July 2, 2008 - 3:52PM

BY HOWARD FISCHER, CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES

PHOENIX - Arizona voters are likely going to get a chance to do what lawmakers and federal judges have so far rejected: dilute the state's new employer sanctions law.

A business-financed group filed about 284,000 signatures this week for its own version of a statute that backers say provides "tough, enforceable, fair" laws. Only 153,365 of those need to be found valid to qualify for the Nov. 4 ballot.

The measure, dubbed Stop Illegal Hiring, contains the same penalties as the state law which took effect Jan. 1. It allows a judge to suspend all state licenses of any firm found to have knowingly hired an undocumented worker; a second violation within three years results in license revocation.

But this version requires prosecutors to prove that the owner or an officer of the company have "actual knowledge" that a worker is here illegally. The fact that an underling has deliberately hired the undocumented worker and the owner may have reason to believe the person is illegal would not be enough.

Potentially more significant, it provides absolute immunity to firms that either use the E-Verify system or simply comply with existing federal laws about checking the identity of new workers