A bill sponsored by Sen. Luz Robles targeting agents who provide fraudulent immigration consultation services passed through a Senate committee Thursday by a 5-2 vote.

The Salt Lake City Democrat's proposal, SBl44, came about following widespread reports of abuse among those advertising services for immigrants in the wake of the 2011 Legislature passing HB116 — a guest-worker bill signed into law in March that would grant undocumented immigrants a state-based visa to work in Utah.

But HB116 doesn't take effect until July 2013, and there have been serious questions raised about its constitutionality.

Jean Hill, government liaison for the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, testified about some of the scams that came about after the guest-worker law was signed — including people being bilked out of thousands of dollars with promises of guest-worker permits that don't actually exist.

She also said some were told by these so-called "notarios" that they could get paperwork for those applying for citizenship which, she said, "creates all kinds of problems" for those attempting to navigate the process.

The bill would require anyone advertising immigration consultation services to register with the Department of Commerce and it would also provide a complaint mechanism for those who were scammed.

"I believe this will be an incentive for the good professionals because they're out there," Robles said. "Not everyone is practicing predatory services, but I think they will be interested [in registering]."

Sen. Steve Urquhart opposed the measure and said it was "classic restraint on free trade."

The St. George Republican — who was joined by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, in opposing the bill — was largely skeptical.

"By licensing this, we're going to make the service a lot less available," Urquhart said. "I hope it works out well, and I understand bad things are happening ... but these things never work out to the benefit of the consumer."

dmontero@sltrib.com

Twitter: @davemontero