Published: December 10, 2007 09:49 pm         

Legislators need to be careful changing HB 1804

Some state legislators seem to be suffering from buyer’s remorse in the wake of criticism of House Bill 1804, an illegal immigration bill that has been touted as one of the toughest in the nation.

Many lawmakers are backing away from their original support of the law, and they cite worrying side effects, such as a lack of employees for lower wage and labor jobs. Some legislators also are now worrying about the effects of denying health coverage or pre-natal care to illegal aliens.

The new law, which took effect Nov. 1, denies driver’s licenses and public services to illegal immigrants and criminalizes transporting, concealing and harboring illegal immigrants from detection or in reckless disregard of their citizenship status.

It still appears too soon to know for sure just exactly what the long-term effects of this new immigration law will be. We suspect perhaps some of the coverage coming out recently about possible ill effects of the bill and waning support among legislators may be to slow down the crafting of a follow-up bill by HB 1804’s author Randy Terrill.

Terrill has said he is crafting a follow bill he calls the “Son of House Bill 1804,” which seeks to strengthen the original law and make English the official language of the state.

There are enough legal experts poring over HB 1804 that if there is any part of the bill that may be unconstitutional, they will discover it. The moral effects of the bill are quite a bit more subjective. Many in the religious community and in social services believe this bill brings unnecessary hardships to people.

Legislators who may want to tinker with this bill need to understand the majority of Oklahomans are supportive of this measure. Despite the law’s potential shortcomings, it enjoys enormous support from the people of Oklahoma. In an election year, it will be tricky for legislators to change their positions much from one of support to one of non-support.

We do believe, however, legislators need to proceed on this issue with caution. And, if there is an actual “Son of HB 1804,” they need to carefully gauge what is happening as a result of the original law before they even think about passing any further measures.