Rep. Stephen Sandstrom’s push for an employer-sanctions immigration measure aimed at deterring businesses from hiring undocumented workers was stopped cold Wednesday morning when the House, on a close, bipartisan vote, refused to let him open a bill file.
But then, a few hours later, the Orem Republican got a reprieve from Rep. Don Ipson, R-St. George.
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How they voted
Rep. Stephen Sandstrom’s attempt to open E-Verify bill failed on 36-37 vote.
Yeas » 36
Barlow; Barrus; Christensen; Cox; Daw; Dee; Dunnigan; Eliason; Frank; Froerer; Galvez; Gibson; Greenwood; Grover; Herrod; Hughes; Ipson; Ivory; Kiser; Last; Mathis; McCay; Morley; Newbold; Nielson; Noel; Oda; Painter; Peterson, V.; Ray; Sandstrom; Sanpei; Snow; Sumsion; Vickers; Wilson
Nays » 37
Anderson; Arent; Bird; Briscoe; Brown, D; Brown; M.; Butterfield; Chavez-Houck; Cosgrove; Dougall; Doughty; Draxler; Duckworth; Edwards; Fisher; Handy; Harper; Hemingway; Hendrickson; King; Litvack; Lockhart; McIff; Menlove; Moss; Perry; Peterson, J.; Pitcher; Poulson; Powell; Sagers; Seelig; Watkins; Webb; Wheatley; Wiley; Wright.
Absent » 2
Hutchings; Wilcox
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"It’s alive!" Sandstrom said in a text message.
Ipson just so happened to have a bill he filed that was empty of any language — called a "boxcar" on Capitol Hill — and he volunteered it to Sandstrom so he could plug his E-Verify proposal into it. The bill will now be under Sandstrom’s name and he believes it will be available Monday.
It was just another see-saw ride for Sandstrom and the immigration issue that roiled the Legislature last session but has been relatively quiet so far this year. Sandstrom had to ask permission of the entire House to open a bill file after missing Friday’s deadline for doing so on his own.
The lawmaker said he "abandoned" the bill because he was still in negotiations with various sides, trying to drum up support.
He said it became clear that support was beginning to wane and so he decided to try and open the bill file from the floor Wednesday — not anticipating any blowback.
Several bill files were opened on the floor without controversy or objection before Sandstrom took his turn at the microphone and, moments after he asked for permission to do it, Rep. John Dougall, R-Highland, stood to speak against it.
Then, Minority Leader David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, took a turn. And Rep. Bill Wright, R-Holden, spoke as a flummoxed Sandstrom saw his simple motion unraveling before his eyes.
"I was surprised," Sandstrom said. "It was just to open a bill file. I thought it was premature to go after a bill they hadn’t seen. But that’s politics."
Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, who has been a lawmaker for close to a 12 years, said not allowing a bill file to be opened from the floor was "rare." Rep. Chris Herrod, R-Provo, said in his five years, "I’ve never seen that happen."
House Speaker Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, voted against allowing Sandstrom to open the bill file because he abandoned it on Friday.
Lockhart said Sandstrom’s actions indicated the bill wasn’t a priority.
"Maybe he shouldn’t have abandoned it," she said. "The Legislature didn’t abandon that bill. He did. Whatever had happened, he decided, ‘Whoops, I changed my mind and wanted to run it again.’ He made the decision to abandon the bill and not go through the process."
But Sandstrom said he didn’t abandon the bill and that it was always a high priority for him.
He’s been working on the bill for months, modeling it after Arizona’s E-Verify bill that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. That law — sponsored by the recently ousted state Sen. Russell Pearce — imposed tough sanctions on businesses that hired undocumented workers.
Sandstrom hasn’t released the language of the bill, but said it’s not as harsh as Arizona’s law.
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