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County votes on immigration plan today

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Elected officials don't usually tackle weighty subjects between Christmas and New Year's Day, but Beaufort County Council breaks that tradition today when it meets in special session to cast a final vote on a controversial illegal immigration ordinance.

The ordinance has changed significantly since it was first introduced by Councilwoman Starletta Hairston in mid-September. The concept, however, remains the same: A company's county business license could be revoked if it's found to employ illegal immigrants.

The following questions and answers help explain the background and functions of the proposed "lawful employment ordinance":

Question: If immigration laws are enforced by the federal government, why is Beaufort County proposing its own rules?

Answer: The County Council, like many local governments, feels the federal government isn't aggressively enforcing immigration laws. The council hopes its own rules will more effectively deter businesses from hiring illegal immigrants.

Q: How does the proposed ordinance work?

A: All who apply for a Beaufort County business license must attest under penalty of perjury that they do not knowingly employ or plan to hire illegal immigrants. This most likely will come in the form of a signed statement at the bottom of the license application.

Q: How will the county know if a business is employing undocumented workers?

A: The proposed ordinance gives the county permission to audit businesses' employment verification documents such as I-9s. A business will have three days to produce the documents.

Q: What businesses will be audited?

A: That hasn't been determined. A council committee has suggested it would be willing to spend $210,000 annually to audit 25 percent of the approximately 5,000 businesses licensed with the county. The council plans to tackle specifics next year, after six new members are sworn in.

County administrator Gary Kubic says he wants to know what types of businesses his staff should audit. For example, the county generates most of its business license revenue from construction-related and landscaping businesses, he said. So he wants to know if those businesses should be audited more than other businesses. Either way, he says he'll need more staff and training to do the work.

Q: What happens if a business refuses to provide employment verification documents or if a county audit suggests a company is employing illegal workers?

A: The company will have 15 business days to file documents or additional paperwork or both to prove its employees are legal. Companies can request an extension of 45 business days, giving them a total of 60 days to produce the paperwork. During this period, the business license remains unaltered.

If the business refuses to produce the documents or the documents show employees don't meet federal standards, the county may then suspend the company's license.

The license remains suspended until the County Council holds a hearing to determine whether the license should be revoked. The hearing must take place within 30 days of the suspension. The business may appeal the council's decision in court.

The county will not suspend or revoke a license if the company provides evidence that it requested and receives what appeared to be genuine employment verification documents from employees.

Q: Is this legal?

A: The county hired McNair Law Firm to determine whether the proposal is constitutional. The results of that review were not made public, but were disclosed to the council in closed session. An attorney with the firm has said the proposal "is consistent with federal law."

Two provisions were removed from the ordinance after the legal review: Businesses would no longer be required to use a federal database to verify workers' legal status and the county would no longer investigate residents' complaints.

Those were among the most contested provisions by the business community. The changes are similar to the county's existing business license rules.

Still, business leaders have concerns about the revised ordinance, including exactly how it would be enforced.

Q: Why did the council schedule a special meeting to vote on the issue?

A: The council wanted to ensure a final vote was taken before Jan. 2, when six newly elected council members are sworn in. Two of the newly elected council members formally requested the vote be delayed so the new council could weigh in.

Some council members have said they feel the current council should make the final decision since it pored through the information and received a lot of public feedback.

Q: When will the ordinance go into effect if it's approved?

A: The ordinance would take effect Jan. 1, 2008, which gives the county a year to come up with an enforcement plan and to hear any legal rulings on similar ordinances that other local governments have approved.

Q: Does the ordinance apply to Hilton Head, Bluffton and the county's other municipalities?

A: No. The municipalities would need to adopt their own rules should they want to enact an ordinance.

Contact Ginny Skalski at 706-8144 or . To comment on this story, please go to islandpacket.com.

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