Colorado Senate Committee Kills E-Verify Bill Setting Stage for Ballot Initiative

A Colorado Senate committee killed a bill last week that would have required all Colorado businesses to use E-Verify. The defeat paves the way for a ballot initiative being pushed by former congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo.

The bill was offered for the fifth time by State Senator Dave Schultheis. The Senate committee voted down the bill on a party line vote after listening to testimony from citizens who support the measure and business groups who oppose the measure led by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

“Passage of this bill is going to help many of our very own constituents who have lost, or will lose their jobs over the next months and quite possibly years, find work,” said Schultheis in a Denver Daily News article.

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo, who formed the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, is working on a ballot initiative for this November’s elections that would require the state legislature to require all businesses to check the employment status of new hires using E-Verify.

For more on this story, see the Denver Daily News.