Skip navigation.
The Texas Blue
Advancing Progressive Ideas

Bill Tracker: HB 38 – Immigration Reform or Licensing Reform?

The passage of the immigration bill in the U.S Senate yesterday sparked a lively debate about amnesty and citizenship. Our federal lawmakers worked for several months behind closed doors to hammer out a collective bill on undocumented immigrants in the United States. The thrust of the compromise was centered on the question, “What do we do with illegal aliens that are already living in the United States?”

In Texas, several lawmakers filed immigration reform bills this session that have not made it out of committee. One bill that has some movement is HB 38. The bill is about business licensing. In essence, if you want a Texas business license, you have to prove that you are eligible for employment in the United States.

A person that wants a business license can prove eligibility under the bill by providing certain documentation, like a United States passport or a certificate of US citizenship. This list is comprehensive, but if a person cannot provide that documentation, then other methods are prescribed. The secondary methods require two forms of documentation from another list.

In effect, this bill would reduce the number of business licenses granted by state agencies. Does HB 38 provide part of the answer to the question of what our state will do with aliens already living in the United States? I am curiously awaiting people’s opinion about this bill.

HB 3693 Alternative Energy

Rabbit: Please cover and comment on this bill. I understand it's out of committee now.

Syndicate content