Alan Powell

Lawmakers gave final approval to legislation intended to crack down on illegal immigration in Georgia. If signed into law by Gov. Deal, HB 87 would require all businesses with more than 10 employees to use the federal government’s E-Verify system to determine the work eligibility of all new hires. Similar to an Arizona law enacted last year, local and state police would be empowered to detain people while their immigration status is checked.

As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, I participated in joint meetings with the Senate Appropriations Committee Jan. 18-20 for hearings on the state of Georgia’s amended budget for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, which ends June 30, and the annual budget for fiscal year 2012, which begins July 1. The heads of 17 state agencies presented their requests for funding to the committee members.