It seemed like a given that the legislature would grant approval to a task force assigned to study the immigration issue.
After all,, during hours of debate over a separate omnibus immigration bill, SB81, several lawmakers pointed to the study as a way to evaluate the issue before SB81 takes effect in July, 2009.
However, in the last hours of the legislative session, the immigration task force died, apparently because of an unrelated dispute over education.
The conflict arose when the Senate changed HB490, which included the task force on immigration and also included education studies. House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara, told the Deseret News late Wednesday that the bill would die in the House because the Senate reneged on an agreement.
On Thursday, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said the disagreement stemmed over how to study math, science, and performance pay for teachers.
The House had added five extra meetings of the Education Interim Committee to look at the issue, while the Senate amended the bill to create a task force.
So, amid the disagreement, two other task forces died as well. Along with the immigration task force, another casualty was the Education Systems for the 21st Century Task Force, which would have studied how the state's public and higher education systems meet the education and workforce needs of the state in the global economy.
Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, who originally sponsored the immigration task force as SB97, said the House was too "hard headed" to talk it out.
"This is dying a slow death sitting on the board," Jenkins said. "SB81 is sitting out there. It's going into effect in a year and we're not even going to look at it."
In an election year session in which lawmakers often invoked their constituents' concerns and a frustration over a lack of congressional action on immigration reform, the Legislature sent a message to Congress by passing three resolutions urging federal action and better enforcement of immigration law.
As approved, SB81 will take effect in July 2009 and have a delayed $1.8 million fiscal note. However, there will be no task force to study the issue, as lawmakers had anticipated.
The momentum started early in the House, with bill after bill gaining approval, many independent measures were held in the Senate because they were similar to provisions included in SB81.
Two major measures that would have repealed in-state tuition and driving privilege cards for undocumented immigrants failed to find support in the Senate, despite both passing the House. Instead, the Senate passed a bill tightening the rules for the driving cards and never debated the tuition waiver repeal contained in HB241.
HB241, sponsored by Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, would have repealed a 2002 law allowing undocumented immigrants who attend a Utah high school for three years to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. initially had expressed concerns about the immigration measures, particularly SB81 and efforts to repeal the driving privilege cards and in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants. However, as SB81 evolved, Huntsman became more amenable to it, especially when the implementation date was delayed by a year.
However, Huntsman had been supportive of the task force to study immigration, as had been several advocacy groups and a coalition of business leaders.
SB81 was modeled after an Oklahoma law that's considered one of the toughest in the nation. However, after slates of amendments from the House and the Senate, the bill has taken on its own form.
And its provisions only apply to public employers and businesses that contract with the state.
Sponsor Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, was also anticipating the study when he told the Deseret Morning news this week, "I would hope something would come out of the task force that would improve the legislation. That's the whole purpose of going through the (study) procedure."
Bills that passed:
• SB81 — Takes effect July 2009. It creates barriers against undocumented immigrants finding jobs or public benefits and creates an immigration enforcement role at the local and state level.
• HB171 — Tightens restrictions on undocumented immigrants' driving privilege cards by making them invalid as age verification for purposes such as buying alcohol or firearms. It also revokes cards of uninsured drivers and it prevents issuing temporary driving privilege cards.
• HB262 — Requires the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to conduct a study of potential reimbursement from the federal government for state costs associated with illegal immigration.
• HB339 — Creates state criminal penalties for human smuggling and human trafficking.
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com