Professional and commercial licenses-lawful residents.

WORKING DRAFT
2008
STATE OF
WYOMING
08LSO-0297.E1

HOUSE BILL
NO.
HB0145

Professional and commercial licenses-lawful residents.

Sponsored by:
Representative(s) Simpson and Mercer and Senator(s) Perkins

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to the administration of government; providing that any state or local benefit shall be awarded only to a person lawfully in the
United States
as specified; providing definitions; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of
Wyoming
:

Section 1.

W.S. 16
‑
2
‑
201 and 16
‑
2
‑
202 are created to read:

ARTICLE 2
BENEFITS TO LAWFUL RESIDENTS

1
6
‑
2
‑
201.

D
efinitions
.

(a)

As used in this article:

(i)

"Alien" means any person not a citizen or national of the
United States
;

(ii)

"Governmental entity" means any state office, department, board, commission, institution or other operating entity of the state including any city or town, county, the University of Wyoming, community college districts
or
school districts;

(iii)

"Secure and verifiable document"
means a document issued by a state or federal jurisdiction or recognized by the United States government and that is verifiable by federal or state law enforcement, intelligence or homeland security agency, including, but not limited to:

(A)

United States
passport;

(
B)

Resident alien card, alien registration card or other document if the document
:

(I)

Contains personal identifying information;

(
II)

Is evidence of authorization of employment in the
United States
; and

(III)

Contains security features to make it resistant to tampering, counterfeiting and fraudulent use.

(C)

Social security account number card, other than such a card which specifies on the face that the issuance of the card does not authorize e
mployment in the
United States
;

(D)

Driver's license or similar document issued for the purpose of identification by a state, if it contains a photograph of the individual or other personal identifying information. The driver's license or similar document shall be current or expired less than one (1) year.

(iv)

"State or local public benefit" means any grant, contract, loan, professional license or commercial license and any retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit or other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual or household by a governmental entity or by appropriated funds of a governmental entity, but does not include:

(A)

Assistance for health care items and services that are necessary for the treatment of an emergency medical condition of the alien involved and are not related to an organ transplant procedure;

(
B)

Short-term, non
cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief;

(C)

Public health assistance for immunizations with respect to immunizable diseases and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases whether or not such symptoms are caused by a communicable disease;
(D)

Programs, services or assistance, such as soup kitchens, crisis counseling and intervention and short-term shelter, which:

(I)

Deliver in-kind services at the community level, including through public or private nonprofit agencies;

(II)

Do not condition the provision of assistance, the amount of assistance provided, or the cost of assistance provided on the individual recipient's income or resources; and

(III)

Are necessary for the protection of life or safety.

(E)

Worker's compensation benefits pursuant to title 27, article 14 of the
Wyoming
statutes.

1
6
‑
2
‑
202.

State or local public benefit to issue to persons lawfully in the
United States
only.

(a)

A governmental entity shall award or renew a state or local public benefit only to an individual who is legally present in the
United States
and shall immediately deny any benefit or benefit renewal upon determining that an individual is unlawfully present in the
United States
.

(b)

An applicant for any state or local public benefit shall prove his identity with a secure and verifiable document before the benefit is awarded. The agency, board, commission or division shall not sell or utilize the information contained in the secure and verifiable document for any purpose other than those specified in law and shall keep such information confidential unless disclosure is required by law.

(c)

For purposes of this section, an individual is unlawfully present in the
United States
if the individual is an alien who is not:

(i)

A qualified alien as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1641;

(ii)

A nonimmigrant under the immigration and nationality, P
.
L
.
82-414, as amended;

(iii)

An alien who is paroled into the United States under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5) for less than one (1) year.

(d)

The provisions of this section shall be enforced without regards to race, religion, gender, ethnicity or national origin.

Section 2.
W.S. 27
‑
14
‑
102(a)(vii)(intro) is amended to read:

27
‑
14
‑
102.

Definitions.

(a)

As used in this act:

(vii)

"Employee" means any person engaged in any extrahazardous employment under any appointment, contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, and includes legally employed minors, aliens authorized to work by the United States department of justice, office of citizenship and immigration services, and aliens whom the employer reasonably believes, at the date of hire and the date of injury based upon
documentation
copies of at least one (1) secure and verifiable document as defined by W.S. 6
‑
2
‑
201(a)(iii)

in the employer's possession, to be authorized to work by the United States department of justice, office of citizenship and immigration services. "Employee" does not include:

Section
3
.

This act is effective July 1, 2008.

(END)

1
HB0145