A Utah lawmaker’s attempt to strip people who are in the country illegally of access to housing assistance, tuition support and other public benefits took a step forward Friday after stalling in the Legislature earlier in the week.
To get some of the controversial measures of his bill, HB88, through the House, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, shifted parts of the legislation to another lawmaker’s bill.
HB88, which called for barring undocumented immigrants from accessing many public benefits, had stalled in the House after a number of Republicans spoke out against it.
Then, on Friday afternoon during House floor time, legislators were considering HB386, a bill sponsored by Rep. Lisa Shepherd, R-Provo, which would repeal two immigration programs passed by state lawmakers in 2011 — the Guest Worker Program and the Utah Pilot Sponsored Resident Immigrant Program Act.
The two programs were signed into law by then-Gov. Gary Herbert but were not officially enacted, as the state required a federal waiver to do so. As a result, the Legislature eventually moved the start date of both programs to 2027. Shepherd said in an interview last month that the goal of her bill is to avoid a federal lawsuit should the programs go into effect without a waiver next year.
When Shepherd’s bill came up on the floor, Lee made a motion to modify it to include several provisions from HB88. Those changes included creating citizenship requirements for people looking to access state retirement funds, housing assistance from government agencies, broker and investment advisor licenses, and in-state tuition.
The additions mirrored sections of HB88, though Lee did not include all the bans he has proposed in his own legislation, like curtailing access to homeless shelters, vaccines and nutrition assistance for people in the country illegally.
“I’m OK with that if the body votes for it,” Shepherd said when Lee made the motion to substitute the bill and include his provisions.
The proposal immediately attracted dissent among lawmakers from both parties, especially the portion of the legislation that bans tuition assistance for people in the country illegally.
Among the lawmakers to oppose it was House Minority Whip Jennifer Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, who said on the floor that the change was “nothing more” than Lee’s HB88 substituted into another bill.
“This substitute is identical to HB88 in removing opportunities and pathways for students in our state who are doing everything that they possibly can by every standard and bar to achieve citizenship,” she said.
Rep. Raymond Ward, R-Bountiful, raised similar concerns, and argued passing the bill would not save the state money. He also cautioned that some young Utahns without citizenship would forgo college if the measure became law.
“The state would lose that tuition money. It’s not clear to me what money would replace that,” he said. “It really isn’t clear to me at all who else would possibly benefit.”
Rep. Hoang Nguyen, D-Salt Lake City, shared the story of her family coming to the U.S. from Vietnam when she was young. Nguyen said if the bill had been law when she was younger, she would not have been able to go to college.
“My mother would not have been able to buy the house on the west side,” she said, “and been able to leverage it to build the first restaurant that she had.”
Following the debate on the floor, lawmakers voted to adopt the substitute that included Lee’s amendments by a vote of 40-31, with four people being absent. Lawmakers then voted to pass the bill 39-33, with three people absent.
Asked for comment following the bill’s passage, Shepherd wrote in a text message, “I let the body decide if they wanted to sub those items. Congress needs to fix legal immigration.”
Lee did not respond to a request for comment on the bill’s passage and whether he still plans to pursue HB88.
The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration.