Things Are Not Always What They Seem~ HB1013

The Arkansas House will soon be considering a bill involving illegal workers that would instruct a board 

with no legal authority to enforce the law, possibly put contractors in legal dilemmas while also making life for small businesses more complex and tedious. 

The House State Agencies Committee convened this morning to hear proposed bill known as amended HB1013, it was passed and will now go to the House floor.

The only problem here is, according to testimony from Greg Crow, Administrator for the Arkansas Contractors Licensing Board, the CLB has no authority or jurisdiction to enforce this law.  The privacy act has a very limited list of entities that are legally able to look at the documents such as the I-9 and E-verify systems that are used to confirm citizenship. And the CLB is not on that list.

The CLB currently has just over 8,000 contractors licensed through their office, which Mr. Crow estimates is only 40 percent of the industry in Arkansas.  Currently there 6 CLB field investigators to cover the state of Arkansas, which is funded by state government, however, (much to their credit) Mr. Crow told me his board is self sustaining.
 
Rep. Nickels (D-Sherwood) the legislator running the bill,  provided an impact study which shows the increased costs to the state for the CLB to enforce HB1013, even though it’s apparently illegal for them to even do so.  I didn’t see that study, but Mr. Crow told me each additional investigator hired would cost $100,000 a year in salaries, equipment and expenses.

Moreover Bruce Cross, head legal counsel for Associated Builders and Contractors of Arkansas, testified that not only can the CLB not enforce this law, it opens up our state and the contractors in Arkansas to potential legal ramifications with regard to IRCA. Mr. Cross also said this law only deals with the construction trade in Arkansas and not other industries. His point was if illegals are deterred from construction employment by this law, then what about other industries?

A gentleman who was a roofer testified for the bill. He explained how he has trouble finding a job because those here who are working illegally can work for so much less. He said he has traveled for hours in search of work to no avail. He said that he didn’t have a computer which, if this law passes, means that he wouldn’t be able to comply with the law.  Rep. Nickels stated he “could hire a staffing agency to take of it for him.”… LOL, oh really? This man, who can’t find work, is most likely not
licensed himself, has no computer, and works for a low hourly wage and now he should hire a staffing agency?

I guess he could buy a computer, purchase Internet service, hire someone to hook it all up for him and spend hours learning how to use it.  Wait… I thought this was about illegal immigration, not putting
more onerous restrictions and encumbrances on small business owners?

Also, Mr. Crow informed me that of their 8,000 members (remember that’s only 40 percent of the contractors in our state) less than 800 of those have an email address associated with their
application.  

This means only 10 percent of the contractors licensed with the CLB use, or even, have internet and email; think that’s a large leap? According to an Internet access study only 57 percent of U.S. homes have access to the Internet. Arkansas is one of the most rural states in the nation; might our access be even more limited than many others?

That’s why I found Mr. Nickels’ unrelenting insistence on the E-Verify system to be so mystifying.  Currently contractors have access to the I-9 system (paper) and E-verify computer process, which has a 54 percent failure rate according to Both Mr. Crow and Mr. Webb.  However, in his argument, Rep. Nickels was adamant  that only E-verify be used to offer cover for contractors as their affirmative defense. 

Rep. Anne Clemmer offered an amendment last week that was adopted today that I posted earlier (which also provides a little more background on this story.) Her amendment didn't originally include the E-verify system requirement, which she stipulated today.But at Nickels’ firm stance it was added. Rep. Ed Garner offered an amendment to the bill just today that failed because it offered language that said either system could be used.

It seems to me that this would put small business owners at a distinct disadvantage at a time when they are already hurting. The Arkansas AFL-CIO is the most vocal supporter of this bill, which leads me to wonder why would Arkansas unions want to put additional burdens on business owners in our state? Could this open the door for businesses to be taken advantage of by having to turn to more organized entities (i.e. unions) to help them out? I’m just asking here.

Might this be somehow used as a tool to harass or strongarm Arkansas business owners into accepting unions? The bill is unclear on many fronts, especially as to how it will be implemented and just who will be enforcing it. I think Arkansans have learned from past experiences (here picture of the state lottery) that open doors within poorly-conceived bills that make for many headaches later.

As stated by everyone on both sides of this bill, the matter of illegal immigration in Arkansas is one that must be effectively addressed. However, this bill falls far short of that goal in more than one way. What say we take our time to develop a first-class bill that addresses the immigration problem in our state when it comes to employment?  What we need is a well-conceived law that’s both legally enforceable and with which small business owners can comply without crushing them beneath additional burdens, especially in this troubled and uncertain business climate.

Politics Done Right

I hope that you were able to watch the State Agencies Committee meeting today as it addressed HB1013. The outcome gave me a huge lift of confidence in our legislators. I sounded like that lil pig in the Geico commercial as I squealed “wheee” with excitement watching it transpire. (OK, don't judge me)

 If you weren't able to swatch it unfold, here’s a brief synopsis of what I believe is the way government should work. The committee meeting opened with Rep. Nickels presenting HB1013~ "AN ACT TO ALLOW THE CONTRACTORS LICENSING BOARD TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST A CONTRACTOR FOR KNOWINGLY EMPLOYING WORKERS WITHOUT LEGAL STATUS."

Rep Nickels explained his reasoning and defended against the arguments he had heard opposing it.

Rep. Ed Garner asked several relevant and thought-provoking questions-(see twitter feed for details).

After several minutes of discussion and a few more questions from other committee members, Rep. Ann Clemmer addressed the same issue that Rep. Garner had raised, but from more of a layman’s view: "If I hire someone to clean my house and leave for the day, I’m not aware of who they bring with them to help,"  she noted.

In essence what they each were saying is, how do you hold one legal business entity responsible for the actions of another, totally separate legal business entity.

At that point, Rep. Clemmer moved to add an additional amendment to his bill that reads:

   “A contractor shall not be liable through a subcontractor under this section if the contractor and the subcontractor agree in writing that the subcontractor shall be responsible for the verifying that each worker employed by the subcontractor is legally authorized to work in the United States.”
 
Then there were a few questions and some confusion about contradictory language and questions over  E-verify, at which point (and this is where it gets really good) the idea was mentioned to perhaps pull the bill entirely and allow committee members to actually READ and study the amendment, then return next week to address the issue.

Rep. Nickels agreed and pulled the bill. Now it appears Arkansans will reap the benefits of our legislators doing their due diligence, working together and making what those who were opposed saw as a bad bill into one that is reasonable and workable for everyone as well as effective for our state.

I spoke to Rep. Garner afterwards and here’s what he had to say: "We stopped a bad bill for a chance to make it a good bill"  Additionally, I called Scott McDaniel, Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Legislative Committee " for Associated Builders and Contractors of Arkansas.  He went to the committee meeting to testify in opposition to the bill. Afterwards, he told me:  "It was a good idea, but a bad bill, the amendment seems to rectify the challenges we had with the bill. If Rep. Nickels goes forth in good faith we would not have a problem supporting it. We will be monitoring it throughout the process.” 

Please call or contact the committee members and thank them for their service. Let them know that Arkansans are willing to come alongside  for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to help ensure our state’s government is always being run for, of and by the people to advance life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of party. 

Arkansas Immigration Law??

The issue of today may be HB 1013. This is one you really need to pay attention to the wording. After all, the majority of Arkansans desire our borders be more secure, that immigration laws be enforced and that businesses be held accountable for who they hire.


However this bill seems to take it a step further and put the onus on Arkansas's General Contractors for who Sub-Contractors might hire. I am not sure how they expect GCs to "control" or even monitor who a private business hires. I guess it could be done if the GC hired a full-time staff to investigate and research all Subs and Sub employees, wonder how privacy laws would impact that. Putting additional regulations on small business owners is certainly not a growth incentive for Arkansas business.

 As I always I encourage you to read this bill for yourself, it is linked above.

HB1013 will be presented to the State Agencies Committee this morning at 10.