The spotlight has shifted to Gov. Nathan Deal now that Georgia’s Legislature has approved Arizona-type legislation targeting illegal immigration. Will the Republican governor sign House Bill 87 or won’t he?
Deal campaigned for governor last year on bringing a law like Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 to Georgia, but he has not yet taken a position on HB 87.
A spokesman for the governor said after the Legislature’s final vote on HB 87 Thursday evening that Deal is still reviewing bills. If Deal doesn’t sign or veto HB 87 within 40 days, it will automatically become law, his spokesman confirmed.
In the coming days, the governor will be facing intense pressure from both sides of the debate over HB87.
Supporters of the bill say illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from Georgia residents and filling public schools, jails and hospitals here.
Critics say the legislation is unconstitutional and will promote racial profiling and invite costly court challenges. Representatives from Georgia’s agricultural, landscaping and restaurant industries have fought HB 87, saying it would create additional costs and labor shortages for them. They are also fearful of threats some critics have made to organize economic boycotts targeting Georgia if Deal signs the bill.
Georgia Tea Party board member Bill Hudson said he and others are prepared to lobby Deal to sign the bill, if necessary.
“Hopefully, he is a man of his word,” said Hudson, a retired dentist from Marietta. "We shouldn’t have to implore him to do something that he said he would do. If pressure needs to be applied, we would do it.”
Also applying pressure -- but to veto the bill -- will be the state's landscaping industry, said Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director of the Georgia Urban Ag Council. Her $8 billion industry includes 7,000 companies and more than 80,000 employees working for landscaping companies, nurseries and other related businesses.
“In our industry, there is a concern that we are not going to have the labor force that we need to be able to work and to be competitive,” Woodworth said. “We just think it is a flawed, flawed bill.”
Like Arizona’s law, Georgia’s measure would empower state and local police to investigate the immigration status of certain suspects. HB 87 would also require many private businesses to use a federal program called E-Verify to confirm their newly hired employees are eligible to work in the United States.
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