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Senate committee advances bill stripping local sovereign immunity for failure to enforce state immigration laws
Summary
The Senate Public Safety Committee voted to give Senate Bill 21 a “do pass” recommendation after testimony from law enforcement groups, school and municipal associations, immigrant-rights advocates and legislative counsel over whether the measure would expose teachers and local officials to civil suits.
Senate members on the Public Safety Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 21, a substitute carried by Senator Blake Tillery that would allow civil suits against a local government or local government official that “does not enforce Georgia immigration law,” effectively waiving sovereign immunity in those circumstances.
The bill’s sponsor said the substitute mostly cleans up duplicative language passed last year in House Bill 1105 but does not change the substantive effect. "All that Senate Bill 21 says is if a local government or a local government official does not enforce Georgia immigration law, that they waive their sovereign immunity and are open to civil suit," Senator Tillery said during committee testimony.
Supporters and critics offered sharply different views of the bill’s scope. Mac Parnell of the Georgia Faith and Freedom Coalition described the measure as necessary to ensure compliance with state law and cited a high-profile campus murder as context…
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