By Emma Epperly
Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
The state Senate passed a bill Tuesday, Feb. 26, adding citizenship or immigration status to the “law against discrimination,” with 29 in favor and 20 opposed.
The law currently prohibits discrimination against individuals based on race, creed, color, national origin, families with children, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability.
The bill does not differentiate immigration or citizenship status from the areas in which groups are protected from discrimination. These areas include the right to employment, real estate transactions, credit transactions, and insurance transactions.
Sen. Rebecca Saldaña (D-Seattle), who introduced Senate Bill 5165, proposed an amendment that changed the wording from “required” to “authorized” in regard to federal or state law regulation, or government contract that creates an exemption to the bill, a small clarification. The amendment passed. This clarifies that immigrants or noncitizens may be denied certain things when authorized by federal law.
Sen. Doug Ericksen (R- Ferndale) proposed an amendment requiring employers with more than 15 workers to enroll in the federal work authorization program “e-verify,” which verifies if employees are legally eligible to work in the United States. Ericksen’s amendment failed due to concern it would drastically increase to number of businesses required to use e-verify. Currently, businesses are only required to use e-verify on the federal level. No state laws requires verification.
SB 5165 does give precedent to federal regulations based on immigration and citizenship status. Federal prohibitions on hiring illegal immigrants and similar laws still apply, but under the proposed bill, it would be illegal to discriminate against illegal immigrants if they are otherwise engaging in lawful behavior.
Sen. Maureen Walsh (R-Walla Walla) spoke in opposition to the bill saying, “You can’t legislate discrimination.” She, along with every other Republican senator, voted against the bill.
The bill moves to House of Representatives and is not yet scheduled for a committee hearing.
