Editor’s note: The following is testimony given by Salt Lake Chamber Executive Vice President of Government Affairs against S.B. 157, a bill that would repeal the Utah Guest Worker law. The bill was unanimously tabled in committee. 

Good Morning.  I am Wesley Smith.  I serve as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Salt Lake Chamber.  The Salt Lake Chamber is a statewide chamber that represents 7,700 businesses and approximately half of the workforce of Utah. Utah business leaders have asked me to express the Chamber’s concern about Senate Bill 157.

Before I get to substantive comments, I’d like to say thank you to Sen. Urquhart for his professionalism.  His respectful discourse and civility on this difficult issue is appreciated by business and community leaders across the state.  While we disagree on this issue, we agree on many others and appreciate the work Sen. Urquhart is doing. Thank you, Senator.

It will probably come as little surprise that the Salt Lake Chamber opposes the repeal of the Utah Immigration Accountability and Enforcement Amendments, HB 116. The Salt Lake Chamber’s position on this issue, as stated in our 2012 Public Policy Guide, is that this state law should not be repealed.  We oppose any legislation that detracts from the unique Utah solution that was passed by the legislature just one year ago.

As many of you know, the Salt Lake Chamber helped create and promote The Utah Compact. We believe that the support of The Utah Compact, by community leaders, Utah’s religious community, law enforcement officers and other business associations set the path for a reasoned approach to immigration policy.  The Compact and Utah’s unique solution have been lauded nationally.  We are proud of The Compact and the influence it has had on the immigration discussion in our state and beyond.

We continue to believe that the first principle of The Utah Compact is fundamental in addressing immigration issues—that is that immigration is a federal policy that requires federal action. This is something that we can all agree on. We should spend more time working with the Utah’s federal delegation to address the root cause of this problem—a federal government that is failing us.

As part of Utah’s unique approach to immigration issues, the Utah Legislature passed House Bill 466 and Gov. Herbert signed it into law.  H.B. 466 created the Utah Commission on Immigration and Migration. This commission has been tasked, by state law, with studying this complex issue and creating a comprehensive, coordinated, and sustainable state plan to address immigration policy in Utah. We continue to support this approach and urge policy makers to utilize this new commission for its stated purpose of creating a state plan to address immigration.