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Georgia’s General Assembly is now in the busiest part of the legislative session. To see where particular pieces of legislation stand, check out The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Legislative Navigator at http://legislativenavigator.myajc.com/.
Georgia lawmakers have shown little appetite this year for controversial measures aimed at immigrants without legal status, deciding against advancing one that would block them from getting state driver’s licenses and another that would make them eligible for in-state college tuition.
This marks a substantial change from four years ago, when the Georgia Legislature approved a sweeping law aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. That Arizona-style law prompted lengthy court battles and complaints of severe labor shortages and economic losses in the state’s huge farming industry.
Among the immigration-related bills that stalled this year is Senate Bill 6, which would ban state driver's licenses for immigrants without legal status who have been granted work permits and special reprieves from deportation. Sponsored by state Sen. Joshua McKoon, R-Columbus, SB 6 never even got a hearing in the Senate Public Safety Committee.
Friday — or Crossover Day — was the deadline for legislation to move from one chamber to the other and still have a chance of winning final approval this year. A similar measure failed in last year’s legislative session.
When he filed his bill in November, McKoon described it as a pre-emptive strike against President Barack Obama’s plans to expand programs granting deportation deferrals to immigrants living illegally in the U.S. Last month, a federal judge in Texas put Obama’s plans on hold amid a legal challenge brought by Georgia and 25 other states.
“I am encouraged that multiple county Republican Party conventions passed resolutions demanding action on Senate Bill 6 and look forward to continuing the debate on this important issue into next year,” McKoon said in an email Monday.
Senate Bill 44 also failed to advance this year. It would make immigrants accepted into the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — or DACA — eligible to pay in-state college tuition rates in Georgia. Sponsored by Sen. Nan Orrock, D-Atlanta, SB 44 got a hearing but didn't make it out of the Senate Higher Education Committee by Friday.
The University System of Georgia bars DACA recipients from paying in-state college tuition rates, which are several thousand dollars below the out-of-state rates. Last year, a Fulton County Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to reverse that policy. The plaintiffs are appealing.
Orrock said she is not giving up on her legislation.
“It’s an issue that is not going away,” she said. “We will study it over the summer … and continue to work on it.”
Rigoberto Rivera, a native of Mexico who has been granted a deportation deferral through DACA, said the introduction of SB 44 and the committee hearing it got this year amount to progress.
“That is a big step forward,” said Rivera, a Roswell High School graduate and a member of the Georgia Undocumented Youth Alliance, an immigrant rights group. “Now we are going to have a better bill with amendments in it. We are going to probably have a vote for next year.”
Supporters of the state’s admission policies say taxpayer-funded benefits should be reserved for U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
McKoon complained how his driver’s license bill never got a committee hearing this year.
“I am disappointed that the Senate had time this year to hold a hearing on legislation to provide subsidized in-state tuition to illegal immigrants wishing to attend public colleges and universities,” he said, “but there wasn’t time to consider the very real public safety, employment and voter integrity issues that would be addressed by Senate Bill 6.”
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