HCS HB 390 -- UNAUTHORIZED ALIENS

SPONSOR:  Nolte

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on
International Trade and Immigration by a vote of 7 to 1.

This substitute changes the laws regarding unauthorized aliens.
In its main provisions, the substitute:

(1)  Prohibits the enrollment of unlawfully present aliens in any
public institution of higher education.  The Department of Higher
Education must annually certify to the appropriation committees
of the General Assembly prior to the approval of any
appropriations that each campus of an institution has not
knowingly enrolled any illegal alien (Sections 172.360, 174.130,
175.025, 178.635, 178.780, and 178.785, RSMo);

(2)  Prohibits college or university students who are unlawfully
present in the United States from receiving certain types of
financial aid, including institutional aid and state-administered
postsecondary grants and scholarships.  Documents which may be
used to verify a student's lawful presence in the United States
are specified, including the Free Application for Student Aid
Institutional Student Information Record; a state-issued driver's
license or nondriver's identification card; documentary evidence
accepted by the Department of Revenue when processing an
application for a driver's license or nondriver's identification
card; a United States birth certificate; a United States military
identification card; or any document issued by the federal
government that confirms lawful presence.  All postsecondary
institutions of higher education must annually certify to the
Department of Higher Education that they have not knowingly
awarded financial aid to students who are unlawfully present in
the United States (Section 173.1110);

(3)  Specifies that postsecondary education public benefits will
not be considered public benefits in the provisions that prohibit
aliens unlawfully present in the United States from receiving a
state or local public benefit.  No additional verification is
required within the same agency once the lawful presence of an
applicant for public benefits has been verified through the
Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Program.  The
substitute clarifies that the provisions that prohibit aliens
unlawfully present in the United States from receiving a state or
local public benefit does not apply to nonprofit organizations
duly registered with the Internal Revenue Service (Section
208.009);

(4)  Allows, during or immediately after a natural or manmade
disaster, business entities 15 working days to enroll and
participate in a federal work authorization program as a
condition for the award of certain public contracts (Section
285.530);

(5)  Specifies that the requirement that certain businesses must
participate in a federal work authorization program will not
apply if the federal government discontinues or fails to
authorize or implement a program (Section 285.555); and

(6)  Clarifies that an employee on a public works project must
complete only one 10-hour Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) construction safety program or similar
program approved by the Department of Labor and Industrial
Relations (Section 292.675).

The substitute contains an emergency clause.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2010, FY 2011, and
FY 2012.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that there are legal and policy
reasons why the bill is needed.  Using taxpayer money to
subsidize the education of a person who cannot be hired legally
after graduation is a problem.  Colleges should not enable
illegal aliens to remain in the country because that creates
liability for the college.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Nolte; Missourians
Against Illegal Immigration; Barbara Rupp, University of
Missouri; University of Central Missouri; Department of Higher
Education; and City Utilities of Springfield.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that they have concerns
about how the bill will affect students and others whose legal
status may change while they are here.  Often, actions of
Congress or other federal agencies affect immigration status in a
negative and unforeseen way, reducing the legitimacy of that
status.

Testifying against the bill were Catholic Charities Archdiocese
of St. Louis; and American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern
Missouri.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated November 17, 2009 at 9:24 am