What happened in Harrisburg?

So the dust has pretty much settled from budget month at the state capitol. What didn't happen is as noteworthy as what did happen.

No defund of Planned Parenthood. Although House Bill 2405 was introduced with great fanfare- because everything primary sponsor Rep. Daryl Metcalfe does is done with great fanfare- the bill was referred to the House Rules Committee and was never heard from again.

No preconviction DNA collection. There were murmurs throughout the spring that the House would take up Senate Bill 775, mandating the collection of DNA from all persons arrested- but not convicted- for a felony or one of several enumerated misdemeanors. In June, the House had already debated expanding the power of the government and civilians to wiretap us and a ban on "secret compartments" in vehicles. Taking up DNA collection of people who are innocent under the law may have been a bridge too far toward the police state, but we are on alert for the possibility that this bill comes back when the legislature returns to session in the fall.

No ID for public benefits. With the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Joseph Scarnati, as the primary sponsor, it seemed that the passage of SB 9 was a foregone conclusion. But the bill went through a serious game of legislative ping-pong. It was amended and passed in the House, forcing it to return to the Senate. It was amended and passed in the Senate, forcing it back to the House. The bill was brought up for consideration on the House floor at 11:45pm on Saturday, just as the governor was preparing for the signing ceremony of the budget and related legislation. When the House Republicans returned from the ceremony, SB 9 wasn't taken up.

SB 9, in its current form, mandates applicants for public aid to show ID to be eligible for the aid, with some exceptions. No ID, no aid. As we've learned throughout the debate over voter ID, there are some citizens who do not have and who would have a difficult time obtaining ID. In the House, Rep. Metcalfe (that guy again) stirred the pot further by adding a provision that would create a third-degree felony if an undocumented immigrant possesses a benefits card, an obviously unconstitutional provision since there are legitimate reasons for an undocumented immigrant to possess a card. For example, he might have it because his citizen child participates in food stamps.

It's hard to predict where SB 9 will end.

No taxpayer-funded private school vouchers. Vouchers proponents are claiming victory after the passage of an enhanced version of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, in which private corporations can get a tax break for donating to a scholarship fund. But the fact is that "EITC 2.0," as it's been called, was Plan B after the defeat of vouchers, which would have given public funds directly to students to attend private and parochial schools....well, parochial schools because the amount of the voucher could only cover the tuition at a religious school and not at a secular private school.

We lost on a new E-Verify mandate for public contractors, Senate Bill 637, Pennsylvania's first E-Verify mandate. The governor has not yet signed the bill, but he is expected to do so.

All told, though, we escaped the torture of budget month in Harrisburg with civil liberties relatively unscathed. All in a day's, or month's, work at the ACLU of Pennsylvania..... And that sounds like a good reason for you to donate today!

Tea Party, ACLU agree: E-Verify is a national ID system

Tea Party activists say they believe in limited government. The Bill of Rights is all about limiting the power of government. The ACLU defends the people's rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and elsewhere in the constitution. Thus, one would assume that Tea Party and the ACLU would agree quite often. If only it were that easy.

Nevertheless, a few weeks ago a coalition of more than two dozen Tea Party, conservative, and libertarian groups dropped a proverbial bombshell into the politics of immigration. In a letter to Congress and in an ad that ran in Politico, the coalition came out against the federal bill from Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) that would mandate the use of the E-Verify national identity system on all employers. In the letter and the ad, the coalition said:

Requiring citizens to secure permission from the Department of Homeland Security to enjoy the fruits of their labor is an unacceptable violation of our civil liberties...

E-Verify:-Creates a de facto national I.D. system - even for citizens;-Violates individual civil liberties such as the right to work & free speech;- Mandates a costly job-killing regulatory burden that cripples small business;-Requires employers to become enforcement agents of the federal government;-Encourages identity theft of citizens.

E-Verify is an online database program administered by the federal government. The databases used in E-Verify are from the Social Security Administration and from the Department of Homeland Security and contain more than 500 million personal data records. If you have a Social Security number, your information is there, on the internet. Under current law, employers can sign up to participate but are not mandated to do so.

The conservative groups agree with what the ACLU has been saying. E-Verify poses major privacy problems and creates the infrastructure of a national identity system. Today employers have access to the data. Who is going to have access to the data in the future?

The conservative coalition's letter and ad had to have been a punch in the gut to Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, who once said that he "was a Tea Partier before it was cool," and other members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly who are trying to mandate E-Verify on all employers. On Tuesday, the House State Government Committee, of which Metcalfe is the chair, is scheduled to take up a slate of anti-immigrant bills, including House Bill 858 to mandate E-Verify.

Next week at the state capitol: When it rains, it pours

I'll try not to be overly dramatic. But the s**t is hitting the fan at the state capitol. Here's what could be/will be on tap for next week.

House Bill 574, re: altering legal guidelines for abortion clinics. This bill could cost freestanding abortion clinics to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in building renovations and staffing increases and could put those clinics out of business or at least increase dramatically the cost of abortion care. Supporters of the bill include the Pennsylvania Family Institute and Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, organizations that oppose women's access to abortion care. That says plenty.

Interestingly, while supporters of the bill have claimed that Philadelphia DA Seth Williams supports the bill, after the indictment of West Philly "Doctor" Kermit Gosnell, DA Williams has said, no, I don't.

HB 574 has been moved from the House Tabled Calendar to the House Calendar, and the word is that it is going to get a vote next week. We have an action alert posted on it. Take action now!

House Bill 934, re: voter suppression by ID. The House State Government Committee will vote on Monday on this bill to mandate photo ID at the polls. The problem? Approximately 11 percent of US citizens do not have government-issued ID, and they are disproportionately the elderly, the working poor, and African-Americans. In other words, this is an ol' fashioned voter suppression tactic that harkens back to the darkest corners of American history. Our friends at Project H.O.M.E. have posted an action on HB 934.

This just in! Late word has come in this afternoon that the Senate may take up Senate Bill 9, re: mandatory government-issued ID for public aid, and SB 637, re: forcing state contractors to use the federal E-Verify database program. We oppose both bills.

Hearings! Hearings! It's not all bad news. On Wednesday, the Senate Communications & Technology Committee will hold a hearing on SB 354, which would prohibit Pennsylvania's participation in the federal Real ID Act, and on other privacy issues. I'm testifying at that hearing and at a joint hearing of the Senate and House State Government committees on redistricting on Thursday. The latter is an open discussion about redistricting.

The hits just keep on comin'!

The Update, 4:15pm: I just got the Senate Appropriations Committee agenda for Monday. It includes SB 637 and SB 9...and SB 3, which prohibits insurance companies that participate in the insurance exchange created by healthcare reform from covering abortion care. I wasn't kidding when I said that the hits just keep on comin'.

Next week at the state capitol

Next week the Pennsylvania General Assembly returns to session after a three week break for budget hearings. Some people complain that we have a do-nothing legislature. And they say it like that's a bad thing.

Here's what's on tap. Our analysis, memos, etc. on these issues are available on our webpage for the current session, unless otherwise noted.

FLOOR VOTE! Death penalty expansion (HB 317): HB 317 adds two new aggravating circumstances for death penalty cases, bringing the total aggravating circumstances that allow a prosecutor to pursue a death sentence to an even 20. We oppose. I missed the memo that the death penalty has been a success. HB 317 is currently on the House calendar for third consideration.

Taxpayer-funded private school vouchers (SB 1): We expect this bill will be voted out of the Senate Appropriations Committee (with a $1 billion price tag?) sometime next week. It will get a vote on the Senate floor soon thereafter, although that may happen the week of Apil 11. We oppose.

E-Verify for state contractors (SB 637): The Senate State Government Committee is scheduled to consider this bill to mandate state contractors to use the federal E-Verify database program on Wednesday. Never mind that the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in the Hazleton case that local governments can't do that. We want Pennsylvanians to make donations to the ACLU, but we want those to be private donations, not out of the general fund after we kick the commonwealth's a** in court. We oppose.

We don't have any published documents on E-Verify for this session, but if you're interested in more info, check out our webpage from the 2009-10 session.

Elimination of pre-HIV-test counseling and informed consent (SB 260): The Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee will consider this bill on Wednesday. Under current law, a person getting an HIV test receives pre-test counseling and must sign a form, aka informed consent, to get the test. SB 260 wipes out the counseling requirement and requires patients to opt out of the test, rather than opting in. That's a violation! Again, no new info posted yet on this one, but our 09-10 session page has some commentary on why this is wrong. Also, national ACLU's HIV/AIDS project has a lot of info on why patient privacy in HIV testing must be protected.

Voter suppression (HB 934): The House State Government Committee will hold an informational meeting on Wednesday on HB 934, a bill to suppress votes by requiring photo ID at the polls. Members of the committee will debate the bill but not vote on it until a later meeting that is yet unscheduled. You guessed it....we oppose.

Did I forget anything? Oh, in what is sure to provide plenty of entertainment, representatives from the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) will meet with the House State Government Committee on Monday to discuss a resolution protesting TSA's extreme search tactics and a bill to create a new state crime of touching a person's genitals during a search.

Finally, Thursday is going to be action-packed for me. In the morning, I'll be testifying at the state capitol before the House Democratic Policy Committee on school vouchers. Then in the evening, it's off to Penn State for a panel discussion on sexting at the law school with Rep. Seth Grove (R-York County), Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico, and Riya Shah, a staff attorney at Juvenile Law Center. It's at 6pm on Thursday in the auditorium of the Lewis Katz Law Building. If you're in the area, come by and say, "Hola!"

Did our state legislators flunk high school civics?

Three weeks ago, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the Hazleton anti-immigrant ordinance is unconstitutional, including its provision mandating the use of the federal E-Verify program. Yesterday the Senate State Government Committee passed a bill forcing state contractors to use E-Verify, House Bill 1502.

You read that right. Read it again, if you must.

In Lozano et al. v. Hazleton, the Third Circuit ruled that local governments cannot mandate E-Verify for a group of employers if Congress has left it voluntary for those employers. Clearly, state contractors are one of those groups since the federal government has only mandated E-Verify on federal contractors and even then only in narrow circumstances.

Maybe the Senate State Government Committee doesn't like it, but the judiciary does have an equal role in our system of government. Only Senator Mike Folmer of Lebanon voted no.

The House doesn't get away either. On the same day that the Senate committee passed HB 1502, the House State Government Committee passed HB 2479, Rep. Daryl Metcalfe's bill to copy Arizona's "show me your papers please" law. HB 2479 also has a provision requiring the use of E-Verify for all employers.

You may recall that a federal court struck down the Arizona law, and while that ruling is not binding in Pennsylvania, it certainly sets a path for courts and legislatures to follow. And again, there is that pesky Third Circuit ruling in the Hazleton case.

Committee chairwoman Rep. Babette Josephs didn't want to bring HB 2479 up for a vote, but her hand was forced when Metcalfe filed a discharge petition, a procedural move that allows reps to bring a bill out of committee without the committee's approval. All of the Republicans and Democratic Reps. Mike Carroll, John Galloway (the primary sponsor of HB 1502), and Jaret Gibbons voted yes, and the bill passed the committee, 13-9.

Hovering over the E-Verify issue is a case that will be heard this session by the United States Supreme Court. The court will hear arguments in Chamber of Commerce v. Candelaria, which is a challenge to Arizona's law mandating E-Verify for all employers. By next June, we'll have some guidance from the Supreme Court on what states can and cannot do with E-Verify.

But, eh, who needs court rulings and case law and that old piece of paper, the Constitution, when there are campaign contributors and the anti-immigrant mob to satisfy?

Andy in Harrisburg

Feds' program to detect unauthorized workers doesn't detect unauthorized workers

Once again, research has shown that the federal E-Verify program is not ready for prime time, and it is certainly not ready for Pennsylvania. E-Verify is the feds' online database program that is supposed to tell businesses if an employee is work-authorized. One small problem: A majority of the time it doesn't detect unauthorized workers.

Last month Westat released the results of a study commissioned by the federal government. A majority of the unauthorized workers that Westat put through E-Verify came back as eligible to work. In other words, E-Verify can't do the one job that its intended to do.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is writing the Democrats' immigration bill and has fought expanding E-Verify because of its flaws, said Wednesday that the fact that E-Verify was inaccurate so often shows that it is not an adequate tool.

"This is a wake-up call to anyone who thinks E-Verify is an effective remedy to stop the hiring of illegal immigrants," Schumer said.

E-Verify has long been a target of derision for civil rights advocates, particularly because the databases used in E-Verify are riddled with errors. These errors lead to eligible workers being denied work because E-Verify says they are not authorized to work. The errors disproportionately affect naturalized citizens.

The federal government claims that the error rate is low, with Westat reporting a .7 percent error rate. Of course, that's 1.5 million Americans over the age of 15, so apparently the Obama administration's message to those 1.5 million Americans is, "Sucks to be you."

The companies that are actually using E-Verify report a much higher error rate. Intel has said that 12 percent of legal workers it put through E-Verify came back as ineligible. A major, multinational employer reported a 15 percent error rate. And a fast food franchise in Arizona with 24 restaurants has said that 75 percent of the legal immigrant workers it put through E-Verify came back as unauthorized.

Meanwhile, here in PA, some legislators think it would be a swell idea to bring this flawed program to the commonwealth. Rep. John Galloway (D-Bucks County) and Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler County) are pushing to get a vote on bills to require state contractors (HB 1502) and all construction businesses (HB 1503) to use E-Verify. These bills already passed out of committee and are being teed up for a vote on the floor of the House.

Regardless of the state of the economy, it's never a good idea to implement state policy that hurts workers. It's especially damaging in this economy with a 10 percent unemployment rate. E-Verify creates barriers to employment and can't even do the one job it's intended to do, weed out unauthorized workers. E-Verify is bad for workers, bad for business, and bad for Pennsylvania.

Andy in Harrisburg

The PA legislature, where shooting "the illegals" passes as humor

It's hard to believe that in this economic climate that any policy maker would have the audacity to pass a bill to actually hurt workers. But there are some Pennsylvania representatives who are trying to do just that.

On Tuesday, the PA House Labor Relations Committee unanimously passed House Bill 1502 and House Bill 1503. HB 1502 would require state contractors to use the federal E-Verify program, and HB 1503 would require all PA construction companies to use it. E-Verify is a database program that, in theory, is supposed to verify that a worker is eligible to work by verifying the worker's Social Security number.

But here's the rub: E-Verify is loaded with errors. Millions of errors. And the errors disproportionately affect foreign-born workers who are naturalized citizens and legal residents who are eligible to work. It's not just advocates saying this. The federal government itself, which runs the program, has admitted that E-Verify has millions of errors. The National Immigration Law Center has a great fact sheet (pdf) that lays out the problems.

Opponents of HBs 1502 and 1503 are some real heavyweights- the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Service Employees International Union of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and, of course, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. Despite the persuasive arguments against the bills from these groups, not one rep- Republican or Democrat- raised a voice of protest at the committee meeting.

How fitting that just the week before the Fiscal Policy Institute released the results of a study that showed that immigrants contribute to GDP at a rate roughly proportional to their percentage of population. The study found that immigrants make up about 3 percent of the population of metro Pittsburgh and 4 percent of GDP. Foreign-born residents are responsible for 9 percent of the population of metro Philadelphia and 10 percent of GDP.

The lowlight came toward the end of the meeting when committee chair Rep. Robert Belfanti joked about well-known anti-immigrant Rep. Daryl Metcalfe introducing an amendment to "shoot the illegals." This drew laughter from quite a few folks in the room. I just rolled my eyes toward the ceiling and thought, 'Am I really in the middle of this nightmare?' Poor Emma Cleveland, our new immigration community organizer. I invited her to Harrisburg for the committee vote, her first trip to the state capitol. I think she's been traumatized. She called the scene "surreal."

We haven't stopped fighting. We are still hopeful that we can stop this blatantly anti-worker legislation before it becomes law. A lot of working people are counting on us.

Andy in Harrisburg