Here’s a piece of good legislative news. The overreaching bill to make a criminal of people who give shelter to undocument immigrants was defeated in the Senate Judiciary Committee today. A report from an onlooker:
Testifying against the bill were Patricia S. Houlihan, Director of Immigration Services for the Diocese of Little Rock, Holly Dickson and Rita Sklar of the ACLU and Dr. Charles Cervantes, state director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. Alice Lightle of the Citizen’s First Congress was also on hand to testify against the bill, but yielded her time, saying that Ms. Houlihan had made the points that Alice wanted to make.
Testifying in favor of the bill were Representatives Harris and Martin.
The only ayes came from Senators Whitaker and Womack. Sens. Irma Hunter Brown, Robert Thompson, Mary Anne Salmon, Sue Madison and Jim Luker voted against it. Chair Ed Wilkinson did not vote.
Here’s Stephens Media coverage of the debate.
We will certainly see similar legislation again in ’09.