A law granting in-state tuition to undocumented students is legally sound
Assistant Attorney General Bill Evans wrote the opinion after concerns were raised during the interim about whether the tuition law violates federal law, potentially leaving Utah open to lawsuits. The opinion is an update from one written a year ago when lawmakers passed a law granting the tuition break to undocumented workers.
But the opinion apparently doesn't satisfy everyone on the Hill. The House Education Committee today will take up HB7, which would repeal the law that allows students who have attended a Utah high school for three years and graduated from high school here to pay in-state tuition.
"This statute, as I understand it and read it, seems completely consistent and compliant with those federal laws," Evans said. "It doesn't violate any (federal) law that we're aware of."
Last summer, the a joint Education Committee had voted 17-3 to recommend repealing the law, after hearing from Kris Kobach, lead attorney for students paying out-of-state tuition suing Kansas over a similar law.
Kobach on Wednesday called Evans' opinion "surprisingly superficial," saying it addressed only two of the seven points in the Kansas suit.
One point of contention is a federal statute requiring benefits given to undocumented students be given to all students, regardless of residency. Evans said that doesn't apply to Utah's law, because it's based on where a student went to high school, not their residency. Kobach disagrees, saying that if Utah wants to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students, it must grant the same rate to all U.S. citizen students.
"I'd like to see Utah correct its error on its own, rather than be forced to do so by a court," Kobach said. "The Legislature is betting, potentially, millions of dollars that the Utah statute will stand up in court. Frankly, that's not at all clear."
Evans, however, says the Attorney General's Office is confident that Utah's law will stand up in court.
"We don't think those threats are really terribly concerning," Evans said.
The opinion was requested to answer questions raised during the summer interim committee meeting, said Amanda Covington, director of communications for the Utah System of Higher Education, a member of Utahns for the American Dream, which supports keeping the benefit in place.
Covington said the bill "opens doors" for students, whether they are undocumented or U.S. citizens. "We think it has a lot of good outcomes," she said.
In the 2004-05 school year, there were 169 students paying in-state tuition because of the law.
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com
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