House committee holds public hearing on bill to tax cash international transfers to fund local costs tied to migrant influx

At a House committee public hearing, lawmakers heard testimony on House Bill 297, a proposal to impose a 4% fee on cash international wire transfers made through in‑person money‑transmission businesses such as Western Union or MoneyGram. Representative Fiddler, the bill sponsor, said the fee would direct 2.5% of revenue to the local communities that bear the costs of migrant influxes and 1.5% to sheriffs statewide, and that the measure includes a three‑year sunset and a legislative study group to review results.

The bill matters, sponsors and supporters said, because counties and local governments are seeing fiscal pressures linked to recent migration patterns — from uncompensated hospital care to additional costs in K‑12 classrooms and county jails. Representative Fiddler told the committee, "It takes 4% on that wire transfer, and it puts 2.5% back into the community in which the burden occurs ... 1 and a half percent is about to help the sheriff's statewide." She said an expected revenue estimate is "no less than 10,000,000." Supporters representing sheriffs also described cash…