Immigrant tuition bill graduates to full Senate

DENVER • A bill giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition at Colorado universities cleared another hurdle Wednesday when the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 5 to 4 to send the measure to the full Senate.

The proposal would apply to students who spend at least three years in a Colorado high school, and would also require they sign an affidavit promising to seek American citizenship.

Backers have argued for months that the measure would improve Colorado's economy by developing a more educated work force, which would in turn contribute to Colorado companies. Proponents include prominent businessmen such as Aspect Energy chairman Alex Cranberg and Greeley rancher Dick Monfort.

The Senate sponsor, Denver Democrat Chris Romer, said that with a college education, more students are likely to make positive contributions to society, while those without higher education often drop out of high school and become involved with gangs.

He said he had waited to push his bill through committee to coincide with the National Dream Act, which has the same goal and was introduced in the U.S. Senate on March 26. One of its House sponsors is U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder.

The timing of the vote had Republican state senators crying foul Wednesday because it was held in the absence of a Republican opponent on the committee who could have killed it. If Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, had been present, the bill would have died on a 5 to 5 tie. One of the majority Democrats on the committee, Sen. Moe Keller, D-Wheat Ridge, voted against the bill. Harvey was out of town, attending to his father-in-law who has Alzheimer's disease.

Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, called the vote in Harvey's absence "unconscionable."

The committee's chairman, Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, denied taking advantage of Harvey's having to deal with a family matter, saying the vote was on Wednesday simply because he's got too many bills to deal with. He called the workload a "bottleneck," and said, "I don't understand the amount of fuss that they're (Republicans) making on this, because this isn't the last step this bill is going to go through."

Tapia said he's not sure if the bill will make it through the Senate, but House sponsor Joe Miklosi, D-Denver, said he has the votes in the House to get it passed. Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter has also said he supports the bill and will sign it if the Legislature approves it.

Granting illegal immigrants in-state tuition is a wash for the state budget, with more students paying tuition offsetting higher costs associated with their enrollment.

The bill was denounced by some veterans who had been lobbying for the same benefit, but did not get it so far.