No in-state tuition for kids of illegal immigrants

DENVER - Opponents of giving children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition at Colorado colleges defeated the proposal by a razor-thin margin Monday in the state Senate.

Five Democrats joined Senate Republicans to kill the measure 18-16.

Democrats who bucked their own party said the bill would have cost the state and higher education too much money to be implemented during a recession that is costing Colorado hundreds of millions of dollars.

Republicans reacted with jubilation, while Democrats vowed the bill would be back next year, after the expected passage of the "Dream Act" in Congress, which would grant basically the same rights as the Colorado bill.

Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, who proposed it, said SB170, would have cured a "cancer of hopelessness in the Latino community."

The bill would have given in-state tuition to any student who has attended a Colorado high school for three years, graduated and had been accepted by a college or university. It would have also required those students to sign an affidavit promising to seek legal citizenship.

At one point, Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, who rarely speaks on behalf of, or against, a bill, took center stage.

Groff, who is black, equated the struggle of Hispanics in America to that of blacks. He urged the senators to reject the "dark past" of their country and stand for a higher ideal.

"We are better than the hate-filled e-mails that we have all received," Groff said. "Let's set aside this battle for the majority that goes on and on and on and do what's right."

Though Romer had gained the backing of two prominent Republican businessmen, he ultimately failed to persuade enough senators that the bill would bolster Colorado's economy with an injection of new talent in the form of students who could afford to attend college. Republicans Alex Cranberg, the chairman of Aspect Energy, and Dick Monfort, a Greeley cattleman, had supported the bill.

Ten states have enacted similar laws, including Texas, Utah, and Oklahoma.

Senate Republicans rejected economic arguments, saying the measure would break a 1996 federal law and would cost Colorado dearly.

Sen. Bill Cadman, R-Colorado Springs, said if the bill passed, it would be the "same as saying that if a couple of people robbed a bank, then their kids could keep the money."

Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, called the bill "open fraud," and Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, said he has Hispanic constituents who are "ticked off beyond words" because they took the legal route and SB170 would have been a shortcut for students who are here illegally.

"‘Illegal.' What part of that word don't we understand?" asked Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud.

For Democrats who voted with the Republicans, cost was an insurmountable concern.

Sen. Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, voted against the measure and said she thought it would cost higher education too much in tuition at a time when universities are facing serious budget cuts.

In-state tuition at the University of Colorado is a little more than a third of what out-of-state students pay.

• Go here to see how they voted.