Sponsor targets immigrant 'freebies'
Donnelson's bill, HB7, would repeal a law passed in 2002 that allows students who have lived in Utah for three years and graduated from high school, or the equivalent, to pay the same tuition rate as resident students. It also requires undocumented students to sign an affidavit that they'll apply to adjust their status when eligible.
It's one of two bills sponsored by Donnelson that would get rid of "freebies" the state gives undocumented immigrants, he said.
One question lawmakers will have to decide on his tuition bill is whether the Utah law is in violation of a federal statute that prohibits giving higher education benefits to undocumented immigrants that aren't available to U.S. citizens, regardless of residency.
"The byproduct of the bill is, it may save the state a lawsuit," Donnelson said.
Rep. Dave Ure, R-Kamas, pitched the bill he sponsored in 2002 as simply granting equal access to higher education for all the state's students.
A handful of students at the University of Utah are considering asking for reimbursement of out-of-state tuition they've paid since the law took effect, or taking the state to court.
A federal judge in Kansas threw out a lawsuit over a similar state law there, saying the plaintiffs had no standing to sue the state. That decision is under appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also handles federal cases from Utah. A state lawsuit has also been filed over California's tuition law.
Assistant attorney general Bill Evans evaluated the tuition law before it took effect in the 2003-04 academic year, and says it's not in violation of the federal law that limits tuition on the basis of residency. The Utah law, he said, is based on where a student went to high school, not their state of residence.
However, Mike Sizer, chairman of Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement, said that the tuition law is in violation of both federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
"Utah has already broken the law, along with a lot of other states," Sizer said. "Each year we wait in repealing, we are more liable."
In the law's first year, 117 students took advantage of it for a total tuition reduction of $299,905, according to state System of Higher Education figures. Some 10,424 nonresident students paid some $34 million more in tuition and fees than they would have paid in in-state tuition that year.
Recent comments
gleen keep your freebie i work for it and god bless you
edgar | Feb. 18, 2008 at 9:08 p.m.
