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Senate panel advances bill requiring state agencies to report immigration-related service use; adds federal verification tool
Summary
The Senate Finance Committee advanced Senate Bill 100, which would require listed state agencies to report annually on services and taxpayer resources used related to immigration, add the federal SAVE verification system for eligibility checks and include a privacy clause referencing federal law.
Senator Meegez, sponsor of Senate Bill 100, told the Louisiana Senate Finance Committee that the bill would codify Governor Landry’s executive order (JML 2405) and require state agencies listed in the bill to provide the Legislature, one week before session each year, a report identifying services and amounts of taxpayer resources used related to immigration.
The bill was amended in committee. A technical amendment renamed “Department of Justice” to “Attorney General,” and a substantive amendment added language allowing use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Online Service administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). “This is a database…to instantly check citizenship verification,” Senator Meegez said, adding, “we appreciate the Trump administration putting this into place.”
Committee members and staff noted privacy concerns raised by some agencies. Senator Meegez pointed to a privacy section in the bill that says listed state agencies must “adhere to federal immigration laws and any other law, federal law included, that deals with confidentiality or privacy of information gathered, compiled, reported and published.” That provision, she said, requires compliance with applicable federal confidentiality and privacy requirements.
Attorney General’s Office staff member Larry Freeman told the committee he had nothing further to add beyond the sponsor’s explanation.
Senator Boudreaux offered a committee amendment identified as “22 18” addressing the bill’s fiscal language; the amendment was adopted. Senator Edmonds then moved the bill favorable as amended. The committee recorded one witness card for Invested Louisiana; the witness did not wish to speak. Committee leadership reported no opposition and moved SB100 forward with the adopted amendments.
The bill now proceeds in the legislative process with the committee’s amendments and the committee-reported fiscal language.
