Colorado’s new law banning state spending on illegal immigrants has cost more than $2 million to enforce – and has saved the state nothing.
Less than a year after politically charged debates on illegal immigration, officials are reporting high costs, no savings and unexpected problems with the new laws.
Once touted by statehouse Republicans and Democrats as the toughest anti-immigration package in the nation, the Colorado crackdown is falling apart.
“We’re finding very few of the departments where these bills have a major effect,” said state Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, chairman of the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee.
The centerpiece of the get-tough effort was House Bill 1023, which prohibits spending taxpayer money on illegal immigrants except in cases required by the federal government.
To figure out whether the law is working, the Joint Budget Committee asked each department to report how much it was spending to enforce the law and how much the department was saving as a result.
The result: Eighteen departments reported adding $2.03 million in costs while not saving any money. None of the departments could say how many, if any, illegal immigrants were being denied state- funded services. Lawmakers expressed mixed views about the report.
Sen. David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who is calling for a tougher ban, said he believes departments are suppressing information.
“They are probably playing fast and loose with the statistics for ideological reasons,” Schultheis said.
Tapia said he wasn’t surprised.
“I thought it was a waste of money when we were doing it,” he said, “but I don’t think the general public believed that the state wasn’t spending money on illegal immigrants.”
Senate President Joan Fitz- Gerald, D-Jefferson County, said the departments should have reported such information before last year’s special session.
“It would have been nice to have this information before Gov. (Bill) Owens called us back for a special session,” she said.
The JBC held a special hearing on the eve of the special session to seek that information from department heads, but lawmakers were told the information was not available.
When HB 1023 passed, the only identified cost was $6,600 – the estimated amount it would take to enroll all state departments in a federal program providing immigration and citizenship verification.
A 2005 bill calling for a more sweeping ban on services – including cuts to child welfare and probation, among other services – had an estimated price tag of $4.3 million and would have added 87 workers to the state payroll.
The increased spending – mostly due to startup costs of the law – is not the only problem with the immigration measures passed by the legislature or approved by voters last year.
The spending ban has also forced some public school districts to cancel keynote speakers from out of state. In those cases, the speakers live in states where the documents required to receive a driver’s license are not as stringent a form of identification as in Colorado under the new law.
Two other immigration laws have vexed the Colorado attorney general’s office.
In November, state Attorney General John Suthers’ office acknowledged that it has not been enforcing an anti-counterfeiting law due to a lack of funding.
That law orders the attorney general to pursue civil fines of at least $50,000 from people who forge documents to help illegal immigrants get jobs.
And earlier this month, Suthers told lawmakers that a voter- approved referendum on immigration is doomed to fail.
That measure – Referendum K on the November ballot – ordered Suthers to sue the federal government to demand enforcement of existing laws.
On Tuesday, Suthers’ office asked for emergency funding of $46,191 to cover the costs of pursuing the lawsuit, even while concluding that such a case is likely to be dismissed prior to trial.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-954-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
Departments’ tallies of compliance costs
The state of Colorado has spent about $2 million to comply with a new law that was meant to curb state spending on illegal immigrants. So far, no department has reported a cost savings. Here is a breakdown of money spent, by department:
Agriculture: at least $300
Education: n/a*
Governor: n/a
Health Care Policy and Financing: $87,287
Higher Education: n/a
Human Services – County Administrative Services: $173,000
Human Services – Old Age Pension: $101,557
Human Services – Alcohol & Drug Abuse: $24,900
Human Services – Low-Income Energy Assistance Program: $52,254.56
Human Services – CBMS: $23,377
Labor and Employment: $374,828
Law: no more than $300
Local Affairs: $0
Military and Veterans Affairs: $0
Natural Resources: possibly $368,059
Personnel and Administration: $0
Public Health and Environment: $73,362
Regulatory Agencies: $378,107
Revenue: $372,533
State: $0
Transportation: $0
* Information for some departments was not available.
