2012 Immigration-Related Laws and Resolutions in the States (January 1 – June 30, 2012)

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State lawmakers in 46 states and the District of Columbia introduced 948 bills and resolutions related to immigrants and refugees from Jan. 1 to June 30, 2012. This is a 40-percent drop from the peak of 1,592 in the first half of 2011. (Legislatures in Montana, Nevada, North Dakota and Texas did not meet in regular session in 2012.)
 
In the first half of 2012, 41 state legislatures enacted 114 bills and adopted 92 resolutions for a total of 206. This is a decrease of 20 percent from the 257 laws and resolutions enacted in the first half of 2011. As of June 30, 2012, two additional bills were vetoed by governors, and an another13 bills were awaiting governors’ signatures—these bills are not included in this report of enacted laws.
 
Law enforcement and identification/driver’s licenses remained top issues addressed by state legislatures, comprising 18 percent and 11 percent, respectively, of all enacted laws on immigration. States continued to pass budget and appropriations laws to fund items such as English as a Second Language, naturalization, and migrant and refugee programs. These laws made up about one-fourth of the laws passed in the first half of 2012.
 
E-Verify, the federal work authorization system, continued to be of interest. Six states—Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, New Hampshire and West Virginia—enacted legislation addressing employers’ use of E-Verify.  Nineteen states now have an E-Verify requirement.  Legislatures are also revising licensing requirements to include citizenship or legal immigration status.
 
Omnibus laws: As the nation awaited the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Arizona v. United States, state omnibus immigration laws came to a standstill. Unlike 2011, when 30 state legislatures introduced more than 50 omnibus bills similar to Arizona’s, only five states—Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Rhode Island and West Virginia—did so this year, and none were enacted. Alabama was the only state to act on an omnibus bill in 2012, amending its 2011 law addressing law enforcement, business/public records transactions, driver’s license/IDs, employment/E-Verify, and harboring and transporting immigrants.  
 
Law enforcement laws this year focused on sex offender registries and restraints on pregnant female inmates. Four states—Kansas, Louisiana, Maine and Utah—enacted laws that specified which documents are required for registering and maintaining records on sex offenders, including travel and immigration documents. Three states—Arizona, Florida and Louisiana—passed laws barring the use of restraints on pregnant female prisoners, including those held for violations of immigration law.

A few states—Alabama, Florida and Georgia—addressed increases in metal theft by tightening requirements on buying and selling secondary metals. In addition, Florida, Maine, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah passed laws to combat human trafficking by providing training to law enforcement, adding offenses under the definition of trafficking, and revising sentencing guidelines.
 

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