BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Isadore Hall, III
Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 10 Hearing Date: 4/28/15
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|Author: |Lara |
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|Version: |12/1/2014 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Felipe Lopez |
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SUBJECT: Immigration: Governor's Office of New Americans
DIGEST: This bill establishes the Office of New Americans
(ONA) in the Governor's office for the purpose of, among other
things, coordinating an ongoing multiagency, multisector public
and private effort to provide information and services to new
Americans.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Naturalization Services Program administered
within the Department of Community Services and Development,
to fund community based organizations in assisting legal
permanent residents in obtaining citizenship.
2)Requires the Department of Community Services and Development
to seek input from stakeholders in designing the methodology
for the distribution of funds.
3)Specifies that the Naturalization Services Program shall be
implemented to the extent that funds are appropriated by the
annual Budget Act.
4)Prohibits licensing boards under the Department of Consumer
Affairs (DCA) from denying licensure to an applicant based on
his or her citizenship or immigration status, and requires a
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licensing board and the State Bar to require, by January 1,
2016, that an applicant for licensure provide his or her
individual taxpayer identification number or a Social Security
Number for an initial or renewal license.
5)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue
driver's licenses to persons who are ineligible for a Social
Security Number if additional documentation is provided, as
specified.
6)Prohibits a law enforcement officer from detaining an
individual on the basis of a United States Immigration and
Customs Enforcement hold after that individual becomes
eligible for release, unless the individual has been convicted
of specified crimes.
This bill:
1)Establishes the Office of New Americans (ONA) in the
Governor's office.
2)Specifies that the duties of the ONA shall include, but are
not limited to, all of the following:
a) Coordinating an ongoing multiagency, multisector public
and private effort to provide accurate, accessible
information and services to new Americans.
b) Overseeing the creation of a statewide plan for the
coordination and implementation of any presidential
executive action on immigration reform or federal
comprehensive immigration reform (CIR).
c) Providing outreach, education, and fraud prevention
services to ensure that the new American population has
accurate information relating to eligibility requirements
with regard to presidential executive action, CIR, federal
deferred action childhood arrivals (DACA), and other
policies, and where to obtain reputable application
assistance and legal services.
d) Providing citizenship application assistance, legal
services, and English and civics instruction.
e) Monitoring the implementation of the following:
i) DACA and any other presidential executive action on
immigration reform or CIR.
ii) Chapter 524 of the Statutes of 2013 (Assembly bill
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60 of the 2013-14 Regular Session). AB 60 requires the
DMV to issue driver's licenses to persons who are
ineligible for a Social Security Number if additional
documentation is provided, as specified.
iii) Chapter 17.1 (commencing with Section 7281) of
Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, commonly
referred to as the TRUST Act. The TRUST Act prohibits a
law enforcement official form detaining an individual on
the basis of a United State Immigration and Customs
Enforcement hold after that individual becomes eligible
for release, unless the individual has been convicted of
specified crimes.
iv) Chapter 752 of the Statutes of 2014 (Senate Bill
1159 of the 2013-14 Regular Sessions). SB 1159 prohibits
licensing boards under the DCA from denying licensure to
an applicant based on his or her citizenship or
immigration status, and requires a licensing board and
the State Bar to require, by January 1, 2016, that an
applicant for licensure provide his or her individual
taxpayer identification number or a Social Security
Number for an initial or renewal license.
f) Creating neighborhood based connections between new
Americans and their communities through civic engagement
and other opportunities.
g) Marshaling resources to fund these efforts.
3)Makes various legislative findings pertaining to the immigrant
population in California.
Background
Purpose of the bill: According to the author while five states
and two California cities have created offices of immigrant
affairs, there is still a lack of a statewide office to
coordinate and advise on immigrant integration policies in the
state of California.
The author further argues that while programs in Los Angeles and
Santa Clara provide some assistance to new American immigrants,
there is much more the state can do to modernize and streamline
programs, and support regions with limited resources that will
be ready to help implement administrative relief for the
estimated 1 million Californians that are eligible under the
federal deferred action programs.
SB 10 (Lara) Page 4 of ?
The author states that SB 10 will ensure California is ready to
implement administrative relief and immigrant integration
policies.
New Americans in California: According to the Public Policy
Institute in California (PPIC), California is home to more than
10 million immigrants, which accounts to roughly 25% of the
foreign born population nationwide. Foreign born residents
represented more than 30% of the population of seven California
Counties: Santa Clara, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Mateo,
Imperial, Alameda, and Orange. The PPIC estimates that half of
the children in California have at least one immigrant parent.
According to the PPIC the vast majority, roughly 53%, of
California's immigrant population were born in Latin America and
37% were born in Asia. While California has sizable populations
of immigrants from dozens of countries; Mexico has by far the
most with an estimated 4.3 million immigrants, followed by the
Philippines at 812,000 and China with 760,700 immigrants.
However, more than 53% of those arriving in California between
2007 and 2011 were born in Asia and only 31% came from Latin
America.
In a May 2013 report titled "Immigrants in California," the PPIC
found that California's foreign-born residents are more likely
to be in the civilian labor force than U.S. born residents. The
report found that in 2011, 66% of immigrants were in the labor
force, compared to 62% of the US born population. However, the
report also found that the median income for households with
foreign-born householders was roughly 21% lower than that for
households with U.S. born householders. Finally, the report
found that foreign born residents are more likely than the U.S.
born population to live in poverty.
Of the 10 million immigrants in California, roughly 47% are
naturalized U.S. citizens, and another 26% have some other legal
status including green cards and visas. The Department of
Homeland Security estimates that roughly 27% of immigrants in
California are undocumented.
While the exact number of undocumented immigrants is impossible
to determine because they are not directly identified in
censuses or national surveys, most experts agree that there are
approximately 2.6 million undocumented immigrants living in
California. This represents almost a quarter (23%) of the
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nation's undocumented immigrants; by contrast, the state's share
of the nation's overall population is roughly about 13%.
While 23% is significant, the overall share of undocumented
immigrants in California has dramatically decreased. As a
reference, in the 1980s, almost half of the nations undocumented
immigrants lived in California.
Unlike some states where undocumented immigrants are found only
in a few large urban centers, immigrants both legal and
undocumented in California are found in all of California's
large urban areas and in most rural areas. Los Angeles County
has the highest number of undocumented immigrants (900,000) of
any county in the state, followed by Orange County (300,000),
San Diego County (180,000) and Santa Clara County (170,000). In
total however, 12 of California's counties have more than 50,000
undocumented immigrants.
Roughly 10% of California workers are undocumented immigrants,
approximately 1.85 million, compared to about 5% nationwide.
Undocumented immigrants work disproportionately in the farming,
construction, production, services, and transportation
industries
Undocumented Immigrant's Tax Contributions: An April 2015
report by the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy titled
"Undocumented Immigrants' State & Local Tax Contributions,"
found that undocumented immigrants contribute significantly to
state and local taxes. The report found that the 11.4 million
undocumented immigrants living in the United States collectively
paid an estimated $11.84 billion in 2012 in state and local
taxes.
In California, undocumented immigrants paid more than $3.2
billion in state and local taxes. Furthermore the report found
that undocumented immigrants' nationwide average effective state
and local tax rate, the share of income they pay in state and
local taxes, in 2012 is an estimated 8 percent.
According to the report, if the federal government granted
lawful permanent residence to all 11.4 million undocumented
immigrants and allowed them to work in the United States
legally, this would increase their state and local tax
contributions by an estimated $2.2 billion a year.
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Federal Deferred Action: On November 20, 2014, President Obama
announced the Deferred Action for Parents for Americans and
Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), which authorizes undocumented
immigrants who have lived in the United States since 2010 and
have children who are American citizens or lawful permanent
residents to apply for temporary reprieve from deportation and a
three year, renewable work permit. The program will be
administered on a case-by-case basis for individuals that meet
specific guidelines, including a thorough background check.
President Obama also announced an expansion of the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for youth who came
to the United States as children. When initially announced in
2012, DACA allowed certain undocumented immigrants who entered
the country before their 16th birthday and before June 2007 to
receive a renewable two-year work permit and exemption from
deportation.
The expansion announced in November of 2014 expanded DACA to
include undocumented immigrants who entered before 2010,
eliminate the requirement that applicants be younger than 31
years old, and lengthen the renewable deferral period to three
years. The Pew Research Center estimated that this would
increase the number of eligible individuals by about 330,000.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, these two
programs are expected to help out 4.4 million people in the
United States and an estimated 1 million undocumented immigrants
in California.
Currently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
is not accepting applications for the expanded DACA and the
DAPA. A federal district court in Texas has issued an order
that temporarily blocks DAPA and the expanded DACA from being
implemented. However, USCIS continues to accept renewal
applications or initial applications from people who qualify
under the initial DACA announcement in 2012.
Prior/Related Legislation
SB 1159 (Lara), Chapter 752, Statutes of 2014. The bill
prohibited licensing boards under the DCA from denying licensure
to an applicant based on his or her citizenship or immigration
status, and required a licensing board and the State Bar to
require, by January 1, 2016, that an applicant for licensure
SB 10 (Lara) Page 7 of ?
provide his or her individual taxpayer identification number or
a Social Security Number for an initial or renewal license.
AB 4 (Ammiano), Chapter 570, Statutes of 2013. The bill
prohibited a law enforcement official form detaining an
individual on the basis of a United States Immigration and
Customs Enforcement hold after that individual becomes eligible
for release, unless the individual has been convicted of
specified crimes.
AB 60 (Alejo), Chapter 524, Statutes of 2013. The bill required
the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue driver's
licenses to persons who are ineligible for a Social Security
Number if additional documentation is provided, as specified.
AB 131 (Cedillo), Chapter 604, Statutes of 2011. The bill
established the California Dream Act, expanding eligibility for
financial aid, beginning January 1, 2013, to students who
qualify for the existing exemption from non-resident tuition.
AB 130 (Cedillo), Chapter 93, Statutes of 2011. The bill
required, beginning January 1, 2012, that AB 540 students
attending the California State University, the California
Community Colleges, or the University of California be eligible
to receive a scholarship derived from non-state funds at the
segment where the student is enrolled.
AB 2060 (De La Torre) Chapter 515, Statutes of 2006. The bill
established the Naturalization Services Program (NSP) within the
Department of Community Services and Development. The NSP was
established to provide funding to community-based organizations
to assist legal permanent residents in obtaining citizenship.
AB 540 (Firebaugh), Chapter 814, Statutes of 2001. The bill
authorized undocumented students who meet specified high school
enrollment requirements to pay instate tuition at public
colleges and universities.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
SUPPORT:
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
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Silicon Valley Community Foundation
OPPOSITION:
We the People Rising
The Remembrance Project
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The Coalition of Humane Immigrant
Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) states that, "California is home
to the biggest population of immigrants and while our state has
enacted landmark legislation to support immigrants in our state,
it has not created a comprehensive approach to ensure that
immigrant populations are part of the civic and economic life in
our state. CHIRLA further argues that in light of the recent
actions by President Obama to provide immigration relief to more
than 5 million undocumented families, with 1.6 million of those
families residing in the Golden State, it is prudent that the
State is prepared to assist immigrants who would be eligible for
potential legalization programs."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: We the People Rising writes in
opposition to the bill claiming that the bill provides for
offices that will exclude Californians not classified as "New
Americans" from government provided services. They further argue
that passage of the bill would be discrimination that unfairly
targets California citizens who are not classified with the "New
American" status.