Saturday, February 26, 2011

Employer Bill, needs repairs

The Statesman Editorial board posted an article about State Rep. Debbie Riddle, filing a bill that would punish Employers that "Intentionally, Knowingly, and/or Recklessly" hire illegal Immigrants. They suggest the bill needs repairs and is filled with holes.

The author points out that this type of bill has had approval of both parties but have always failed to get passed into law. The idea of a employer being punished for hiring illegal immigrants makes sense to most. However with a law that is filled with holes and language around it, makes the bill almost useless. The author also points out that, with a flawed system of verifying status of potential employees makes the notion even harder for employers to be the person to know if they are hiring someone legal or illegal.

Many argue that the bills language makes it easy for employers to continue to hire illegal immigrants because its extremely difficult to prove the person "knowingly and or recklessly" hired the unemployable. Also the author brings up previous problems of similar bills that made it difficult for state officials to regulate and enforce the responsibility of the federal law enforcement.

The author does a great job of showing concern while supporting some aspects of the bill. I believe the audience of the author is those concerned with the problems of illegal immigrants taking jobs of American citizens. While the bill seeks to prosecute those that employ illegal immigrants, it exempts individuals that hire illegal immigrants to hire to do work around a persons home. The author believes this is very hypocritical and ends the column with his/her belief that the bill causes a lot of commotion and will need repairs.

The logic of this article is simple and straight forward. The article seems to want the bill to pass, but only after the holes have been filled and the past mistakes of similar bills have been adjusted too it. The author uses the growing number of illegal immigrants in recent years as a credible cause to this bill.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/employer-bill-in-need-of-repair-1250202.html

Monday, February 14, 2011

Uneasy Axe hanging over Texas Colleges

Uneasy Axe hanging over College Benefits

Christopher A Smith of the Texas Tribune wrote a Article on an purposed state budget. He talks about important issues that affect College faculty and staff as well as students. The budget calls for the closing of four community colleges and cutting state funding of Health benefits from 83% to 50% for all community college employees. This will cause establishments to scramble for more money for a growing population of students.

Texas Community colleges have already reduced spending due to the request of Gov. Rick Perry and some institutions have started a hiring freeze.
With less funding and a growing population of students, schools will be forced to increase class size, raise tuition, hire less teachers and offer less classes and career choices.

I believe this article is a great read for both students and teachers, and is a great example of why Government matters to all of us.