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I get tired of the media and believe in fact. I don’t like emails being circulated about what things say, I like to see them for myself.

So. Here’s the Arizona Immigration Law. Go read it. I did. http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/summary/h.sb1070_asamendedbyhb2162.doc.htm

Here are notes to myself. FACTS. Go read them and take your own notes…make your own judgment call. I’m not a lawyer, this is just my regular person’s read of the law:

Quick Summary:

1. Only if you’re already stopped for something illegal can they check your immigration status
2. A basic ID/Driver’s License is really all you need as proof of legal residency
3. If you’re getting state benefits, you need to be legal
4. If AZ government tries to stop this law, they can be sued
5. If you’re not a legal resident, but are in the country legally, carry documents (your passport)
6. If you’re a Coyote, you’re gonna get a felony conviction/fines
7. You can’t hire a day-laborer (and you can’t be hired as a day-laborer) or you get a misdemeanor/fine
8. If you break the law, you can be arrested (duh)
9. If you’re an employer, you should use the federal e-verify system. If you hire an illegal, you’ll have problems doing business in the state
10. If you know a guy in your car is an illegal alien and you get caught by the cops, they’re going to impound your car for 30 days

And most importantly, in multiple places, it says very clearly that law enforcement “may not consider race, color, or national origin” in the enforcement of this law…and final determination is always left to the feds.

More Details:

1. Only if you’re already stopped for something illegal can they check your immigration status: If a cop ‘lawfully’ stops or detains someone and ‘reasonable suspicion’ exists that they may be an illegal alien, they’ll make a ‘reasonable attempt’ to verify immigration status. If they arrest them, immigration status must be verified. If legal resident status can’t be verified, they turn them over to the feds and the feds make the ultimate judgment call. It says specifically that they “may not consider race, color or national origin” during this process except as provided by the Arizona and/or US constitutions.
2. A basic ID/Driver’s License is all you need as proof of legal residency: If you have an Arizona Driver’s License, Arizona ID Card, Tribal ID Card, or any US federal, state, or local government issued identification (if they require proof of legal resident status to get it), all you need to is present it to the cop and that’s proof of your legal right to be in the US.
3. If you’re getting state benefits, you need to be legal:

Arizona government may require proof of legal resident status to ‘determine eligibility for any public benefit, service, or license’ or to verify your legal residence as a part of a ‘criminal proceeding’. So if you’re getting money or in a lawsuit, they’re going to check your legal resident status.

4. If AZ government tries to stop this law, they can be sued:

If an Arizona government entity implements a policy that restricts enforcement of federal law (by the Arizona official), they can be sued by an Arizona reside for between $500-$5000 per day the policy is in effect. If the judge says they’re guilty, the funds are collected and deposited in the ‘Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission Fund’ (and the department is at fault, not the cop following the department’s illegal procedures). This fund is solely for gang and immigration enforcement and for county jail reimbursement costs relating to illegal immigration.

5. If you’re not a legal resident, but are in the country legally, carry documents (your passport):

If you’re not a legal resident, you have to carry documents with you. If you don’t, you’ll be convicted of a misdemeanor, you’re going to get put in jail for a max of 20 days, max fine is $100 for a first offense, you’ll have to pay for the cost of your jail time, and if you get put in again, you can’t be put in for more than 30 days. And the cops still can’t use “may not consider race, color or national origin” when determining when to ask you for your papers and if you don’t have papers, you’re still turned over to the feds who make the final determination with respect to your legal resident status.

6. If you’re a Coyote, you’re gonna get a felony conviction/fines:

If you smuggle humans across the border for profit (i.e., you’re a Coyote), you’re guilty of a Felony. Various classes apply based on the age, force, etc. used to smuggle and a cop can pull you over if he has “reasonable suspicion to believe a person is in violation of any civil traffic law” (i.e., you ran a stop sign).

7. You can’t hire a day-laborer (and you can’t be hired as a day-laborer) or you get a misdemeanor/fine:

If you’re not a legal resident, you can’t offer to be a day-laborer. If you do, it’s a misdemeanor. If you pull over on the side of the road and stop (in a no stopping zone, impede the right of way, etc.) to hire a day laborer, you’re guilty of misdemeanor. If you get convicted of either, you’ll be fined at least $1000. If you hire 10 day-laborers at the same time, you’re guilty of a felony and will pay at least $1000/piece in fines. And again, a cop “may not consider race, color or national origin” when enforcing this section.

8. If you break the law, you can be arrested (duh):

A cop can arrest people for misdemeanors or felonies committed in their presence when probable cause exists.

9. If you’re an employer, you should use the federal e-verify system. If you hire an illegal, you’ll have problems business in the state:

As an employer, you can’t knowingly hire people who are here illegally. Anyone can file a complaint about an illegal with the Arizona attorney general and they’ll investigate it. In the end, the feds again make the final determination regarding legal resident status. If they find an employer knowingly hired an illegal, all of their licenses are suspended for up to 10 days, they have to fire them, the illegal gets deported, the employer is placed on probation for 3 years and has to file more paperwork regularly, and they have to swear in front of a judge under oath that they won’t do it again. If they don’t do this, any licenses they have will be suspended until they do this. If the employer does it again anyways, licenses are revoked permanently. If the employer uses the federal e-verify program, they’re safe and have done their job (e.g., they didn’t ‘knowingly’ hire an illegal). (It’s also the law after 12/31/07 to use the e-verify program anyways and keep a record for 3 years). Also, no stings, traps, etc. are legal and mean the employer isn’t guilty of anything and if an employer gets ‘economic development incentives’ (e.g., government funds), they have to use the e-verify program as well.

10. If you know a guy in your car is an illegal alien and you get caught by the cops, they’re going to impound your car for 30 days.

That’s it. Now you know and can make your own informed decision…oh, yeah – and you can participate intelligently in conversation on the topic, too.

I grew up in Upland… as of 10am this morning (PDT) the sheep fire is 10miles nw of where I used to live. The green line is an approximate track of the progress of the fire since the MODIS satellites first picked up on it…

Sheep_20091004_1000PDT

I’m a big ‘what’s this mean to me’ kind a guy. While Obama steals more of my paycheck with each day that he’s in office, I’m hard at work figuring out how to best exploit his socialist policies with my capitalist mind. An example of my last big exploit – the purchase of a Prius w/CA carpool lane stickers… the day after Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill giving sticker-bearing-hybrid drivers in CA the right to drive as a solo occupant in carpool lanes. I’m all for the environment if I save money..but not at additional expense to me. But shave 30 minutes off of my round trip commute each day and now we’re talking.

The draft $825 Billion Economic Stimulus package now before the house (no – not the media’s interpretation of it — go read it for yourself) has all sorts of junk in it. That said, I’m in the market for residential solar so decided to read through it for potential reasons that indicate I should wait on a purchase (even though last year’s multi-billion-dollar bailout removed the $2000 residential cap on federal solar tax credits adding an additional $10k savings to the system I’m considering).

Anyway, here’s what I found in the draft bill before the house (I’m not a lawyer, I may not know what I’m doing, but I’m the average middle class person to stretch my dollar further… oh wait, I’m not middle class anymore..I responsible now for paying more money to bail out lazy, irresponsible people)

Bill Verbiage: “$3,500,000,000 shall be for Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, for implementation of programs authorized under subtitle E 8 of title V of the Energy Independence and Security 9 Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17151 et seq.).”

Translation: This section (look at it here) discusses Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants. It provides $3.5 Billion in grants to various entities (I care about eligible state and local governments)… more specifically, 68% goes to eligible units of local government and 28 percent to States for various conservation programs.

Result: If I wait around long enough, I might get some additional cash back from my state or local government. Unfortunately, they’ll probably spend most of it in admin costs before I see one red cent and my system will have paid itself off by then under existing incentives anyways.

Bill Verbiage: $3,400,000,000 shall be for the State Energy Program authorized under part D of title III
12 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 13 U.S.C. 6321).

Translation: More state funding for renewables.

Result: Same thing..more chance of better state rebates for solar. This one seems a little more specific to me…maybe a bit more likely as a result?

Bill Verbiage: “For an additional amount for ‘‘Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability,’’ $4,500,000,000… under title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42
6 U.S.C. 17381 et seq.)”

Translation: More money to make sure that prices don’t get manipulated and things stay online (mostly)

Result: Of no use to me. Stuff about wave-energy, energy up in Alaska, and commercial solar stuff… squat for the residential solar homeowner in this section. This section also gets amended by stuff later in the stimulus bill to include more ’smart grid’ stuff as well. Again, no personal use to me except that SDG&E may get some stimulus and that should cause those rates they just raised to rollback, right? (WRONG!!!)

There’s another bit with respect to 42 USC 16511 but it just further limits this legislation to commercial applications and mandates commencement of construction bu Sept 30, 2011 (to get them to move along)

Bottom line – looks like my best chance if I wait is for some more state grants. Still, I figure it takes a year to implement them and their current incentive program has dropped a tier by then..maybe enough to offset the increase they might add? At the end of the day, I’m moving forward… doesn’t appear to be anything in this bill with any material benefit to me, the residential homeowner, looking to install a solar system. Last year’s bailout, and removal of the 30% tax credit cap from the feds, makes it the right time to buy… for me.

Whatever you do, don’t take my word for it… do your own homework. I’m not the expert…