Business Leaders, Unions and Advocates to Testify Against Suffolk Anti-Immigrant Proposal

Today, business leaders, union members and advocates will testify against a proposal by Suffolk County lawmakers that would require all 15,000 licensed contractors in the county to prove their employees’ working status. The community’s overwhelming rejection of the legislation comes during the first public hearing on the issue.

“This legislation is an invitation for employers to discriminate against people entitled to work but who speak Spanish or otherwise appear ‘foreign,’” said Seth Muraskin, director of the Suffolk County chapter of the NYCLU. “This political pandering will only make it difficult for honest, hardworking people to work and feed their families. Our Suffolk County officials must respect our core American values and reject government-sponsored xenophobia once and for all.”

The proposal, introduced in January by Brian Beedenbender, seeks to rebuke Suffolk County contractors with penalties that include the loss of county licenses and up to four years in jail. The bill’s wide array of opponents denounce it as political posturing that promotes discrimination, and have come to call it the “Electrician and Plumber Unemployment Act” because of the harmful impact it would have on an already depressed economy.

“This irresponsible proposal would hurt individual contractors, potential consumers, workers and the Suffolk County economy,” said Ruth Mulford, vice president of the Metro/Long Island Association of Builders and Contractors, Empire State Chapter. “This law is targeted at minimizing, or even eliminating, the ability to employ independent contractors on Suffolk County construction projects. That’s just bad business.”

The measure, if successful, would be the first of its kind in the state and follows a highly controversial 2006 law that requires contractors doing business with the county to confirm the legal status of their employees.

“This resolution just isn’t necessary,” said Jack Morrell, president of the Suffolk County Electrical Contractors’ Association. “The county already has agencies, investigators and a violation system in place to enforce health, safety and minimum wage laws. At a time when Suffolk County is already suffering from a $100 to $200 million budget deficit, taxpayers can’t afford this and neither can contractors.”