Arizona Temporary Worker Program

Friends, this is proposed legislation that you soon will be hearing about...I believe there is a press conference scheduled for Monday around 11:00 on the Senate lawn. Read the details of this bill & make your voices heard. Whether you support or oppose this legislation, please let me know.

Elements of the Arizona Temporary Worker Program:

1. The program is contingent upon authorization by Congress for an Arizona-only, state-administered temporary worker program.

2. Employers who state that they have a labor shortage and are unable to find local workers with the skills needed will submit an application of request to the Arizona Industrial Commission, which will administer the program. The employers will pay an application fee. The fees will fund the administration of the program.

3. Only citizens of Mexico will be eligible for the program.

4. Employers will recruit workers in Mexico with the skills they need. Workers will submit applications, and photographs and fingerprints will be taken, at Arizona State Offices within Mexico. The employer will submit the names and background information to the Arizona Industrial Commission. The names will be criminal background checked by the Department of Public Safety in cooperation with federal agencies, and a criminal background check will be done in Mexico through agreements with the Department of Public Safety and the appropriate law enforcement agency in Mexico .

5. Tamper-proof Legal worker cards will be printed by the Arizona Department of Transportation and delivered to the requesting employers. A second fee may be charged for the cards. Employers will send their recruiting agents to Arizona State Offices within Mexico to deliver the cards to the selected workers. Employers are charged with verifying that the worker who is issued the card is the same person that submitted the application.

6. Legal workers possessing an Arizona Temporary worker card will be legally able to enter the United States through ports of entry on the Mexico border (upon authorization by Congress) and return through these ports.

7. The Arizona Temporary Worker legal identification card will allow a non-citizen from Mexico to work in ARIZONA ONLY. Employers are required to explain to the workers they recruit that the card does not allow them to work in any other state, and if they are absent from work their card will be revoked and reported to law enforcement authorities.

8. If a worker does not show up for work for fourteen days and the employer is unable to locate him or her, the employer is required to notify the Arizona Industrial Commission, and the Department will cancel the legal worker card and notify the Department of Public Safety that that person no longer has legal authorization to be in the United States. The Department of Public Safety will notify appropriate federal agencies. If the employer offers vacation time, the worker is required to provide an address where he or she will be located.

9. The Arizona Temporary Worker program cards will be issued for a two-year period and will be renewable if the employer files another verification of need and application for foreign labor.

10. The intent of the program is to recruit needed foreign labor from our neighboring country of Mexico. Many agriculture workers currently live in Mexico and work legally during the day in Arizona, returning to Mexico every night. The program is limited to Mexico because that country will be able to conduct a criminal background check within their boundaries and coordinate with the Arizona Department of Public Safety and appropriate federal officials.

11. Industries included in this program may include but are not limited to: agriculture and meat producing industries; hotel and hospitality industries; contractors, homebuilders and subcontractors such as roofing and landscaping; hospitals and nursing homes; and other businesses that are in need of foreign labor.

12. Temporary workers with a criminal record in the United States or in Mexico are ineligible from the program.

UPDATE: More details should be forthcoming after the bill sponsors hold their press conference Monday morning at 11:00 am on the Senate Lawn. Hopefully, they will make time for legislators, including myself, to ask questions. Please feel free to forward me your questions and concerns and I will attempt to garner additional information on both the intended and unintended consequences of the passage of this bill.