August 28, 2007

Berman Stepping Up Illegal Immigration
Fight in Re-Election Bid for House Seat

By Mike Hailey
Capitol Inside Editor

State Rep. Leo Berman plans to announce Wednesday that he's running for re-election in 2008 and renewing his push for immigration reforms that were derailed without a vote during the regular session earlier this year.

Berman, a Tyler Republican who's served in the House for the past eight years, said he's optimistic about the chances of passing legislation designed to curtail illegal immigration into Texas as a result of a new strategy that will be employed when lawmakers are back in session in 2009.

Berman said he and others who support such reforms hope to persuade House Speaker Tom Craddick to assign immigration bills to committees based on specific subjects within each measure instead of sending all of the measures filed on the general issue to one standing panel like he did in this year's session.

Berman and others who back immigration controls at the state level were outraged when a series of bills they were pushing to tackle the problem died in the House State Affairs Committee after the panel's chairman refused to bring them up for hearings or votes. Berman vented his anger in a personal privilege speech on the House floor and vowed to step up the fight for immigration reform instead of throwing in the towel amid the resignation of defeat.

State Rep. David Swinford, a Dumas Republican who chairs the State Affairs Committee, indicated that he'd kept the immigration bills bottled up amid concerns that the debate on them would have been unduly divisive at a time when the House was already in the midst of a bitter leadership struggle.

But Berman contended that some if not all of the bills that were killed in committee had the support to pass if they'd been allowed to the floor for a vote. Berman argues that the lack of a meaningful solution from Congress is making it increasingly imperative for the Legislature to take action to curb the flow of illegal immigrants into the state and the high costs of providing health care and education for them.

In addition to the stream of people from Mexico and other nations to the south, Berman says illegal immigrants are entering Texas from the north and the east as a consequence of tough immigration laws that state legislators in Oklahoma and Georgia have passed while similar proposals stalled here.

Immigration has polled higher than any other issue among GOP voters at the state and federal levels for the past several years. But Democrats and some Republicans at the Capitol complained that the legislation that Berman and others were behind this year was overly harsh and especially punitive for the children of parents who've come into the state illegally.

The immigration legislation in Texas also ran into resistance from advocates for businesses that are able to keep prices of goods that they produce lower by hiring employees who are willing to work for lower wages than federal law allows for American citizens. Berman blamed "outside forces" in Washington and here in Texas as well for the failure of immigration reform measures that died in the House this year.

Berman predicted that about 20 bills would be filed to tackle illegal immigration when lawmakers return in 2009 - and he foresees a different fate for the proposals if they're divided among separate committees instead of being treated as one broad package. As examples, Berman said bills that center on the employment of immigrants would be well suited for the Business & Industry Committee while his proposal to levy an 8 percent surcharge on an estimated $6 billion in funds wired from Texas to Mexico and other foreign nations is the kind of legislation that the Ways and Means Committee would normally consider.

Berman said the Higher Education Committee would be the natural place to send a bill that would end in-state college tuition for students from families in Texas illegally. The tuition break bill was the only piece of the package to make it to the House floor this year, but it was killed on a point of order before a vote.

Berman, who's chaired the House Elections Committee since early this year, also pledged to rally behind tighter limitations on property appraisals if re-elected as he expects to be at the polls next year. Appraisal reform - like the immigrations measures - stalled in House committee this year.

Berman faced a significant primary challenge last year from Gus Ramirez, a Tyler businessman who held the incumbent to 52 percent of the vote with the help of support from trial lawyers.