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Committee recommends favorably HB386 to clean up 2011 immigration provisions set to trigger in 2027
Summary
Representative Shepherd described HB386 as a cleanup bill to prevent the automatic enactment of 2011 guest-worker and related statutes that carry constitutional notes; the committee recommended the substitute favorably after clarifying that employer-verification provisions would remain unchanged.
Representative Shepherd told the committee HB386 removes or prevents the 2011 guest-worker and pilot sponsored resident immigration provisions from automatically taking effect in 2027, describing the measure as code cleanup to avoid anticipated litigation. "This will also repeal ... identity theft victims restricted account," he said when summarizing the 2011 package and added that the earlier bills were enacted with constitutional notes and have never taken effect.
He framed the bill as a narrow procedural action: "This is pretty simple. I look at it as a cleanup bill, and we're just taking code that we can't use…" Shepherd said, urging the federal delegation to act on immigration more broadly.
Representative Thurston and other members asked whether the Utah Employer Verification Act would change; Shepherd confirmed the practical operation of employer verification would remain the same because the 2011 guest-worker program never took effect and the verification provisions would not be activated absent a federal waiver.
Representative Burton moved to recommend HB386 (substitute) favorably. Committee members expressed support for cleaning up dormant or constitutionally problematic code, and the voice vote carried. The committee’s recommendation sends the substitute forward for further legislative consideration.
