Gordon James

My Turn – Arizona Republic May 6, 2008

The most vocal of Arizona’s state legislators will have you believe the Arizona economy is unsinkable, blatantly ignoring the gaping hole caused by the iceberg that is the Employer Sanctions Law. With sadness I have been following the continuing saga of our legislators scrambling to clean up the drifting debris of this law.

Struggling with a low performing housing economy and a national economic slowdown, the original sanctions law couldn’t have come at a worse time for Arizona. I have watched and heard countless stories of members of our business and economic communities burdened to the point of packing up and leaving. Declining sales, slowing growth and massive budget shortfalls all point to a state economy rapidly sinking.

Even if no cases are ever brought against an employer and no action is ever taken, Arizona is already feeling the real consequences of the sanctions law. The intangibles we might never be able to measure are how many businesses have been pushed away from the state under growing restrictions, how many hard-working, tax-paying families have left to seek friendlier job markets and how many businesses will never invest in a state where the risks outweigh any of the rewards. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

However, proponents of the law claim that the bill is working as intended if businesses are afraid. They say it is better that business owners have to worry every day and with increasing scrutiny if one of their managers intentionally hires an undocumented worker without their knowledge.

If the bill is working so well, then why are we seeing so many new legislative fixes, vetoes and competing ballot initiatives flying around so fast it’s hard to keep track of them all. All designed to patch the holes in this poor piece of legislation. Unfortunately, at the end of the day all these “fixes” amount to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.