Opposition to Senate Bill 590/ Federal Immigration Laws

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RESOLUTION NO. �� 1 A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA,IN OPPOSITION TO SENATE BILL 590, CURRENTLY PENDING IN THE INDIANA GENERAL ASSEMBLY,WHICH PROPOSES NEW REGULATIONS ON THE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS, CHECHING THE CITIZENSHIP OR IMMIGRATION STATUS OF INDIVIDUALS AND RELATED MATTERS ��,n�r�ea�, on January 20, 2011, Senate Bill 590 was filed by Indiana Senator Mike Delph of Carmel, which proposes to make various changes to state laws concerning the enforcement of federal immigration laws, checking the citizenship or immigration status of individuals and several other matters including but not limited to requiring that only English be used in public meetings and public documents; requiring the federal government to reimburse the state for costs; and requiring a process to suspend or revoke business licenses who knowingly employ unauthorized aliens; and ��ead, as of the filing of this resolution, the Indiana Senate Committee on Pensions and Labor and the Indiana Senate Committee on Appropriations held public hearings on Senate Bill 590 where heated debate took place; and ��e��ea,�, one of the key concerns raised was by Eli Lilly and Company, a research-based company founded in 1876 in Indianapolis by Colonel Eli Lilly, a U.S. Civil War veteran who was frustrated by the poorly prepared and ineffective medicines at that time, which has grown into a company with 38,350 employees worldwide and markets products in 143 countries, stated that: [this] `anti-immigration and English-only legislation [will] make it difficult to recruit new and educated workers and retain current employees in our Indiana communities, who simply will not move to and live in a state that is seen as unwelcoming"; and �%er�ad, Cummins, Inc. headquarter in Columbus, Indiana which designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies in 190 countries with over 5,200 dealer locations joined Eli Lilly and Company in opposing Senate Bi11590; and ��eao, the City of South Bend, like most other communities throughout our state and the nation, are in the midst of trying to attract and grow businesses in very challenging economic times; and �/e��ea�, the Indiana State Senators and Representatives should especially take notice when Indiana based companies, which have global footprints and are among the state's largest employers, raise serious concerns about the potential consequences to their companies and future ability to have robust job creation ,if Senate Bill 590 becomes law; and ��e�ea:�, in reviewing the four (4) Fiscal Impact Statements prepared by the Indiana Legislative Services Agency of the Office of Fiscal and Management Analysis based in Indianapolis, each of these reports under the heading"Explanation of Local Expenditures"include a note that: "This fiscal note does not include a secondary analysis of the potential effects stricter enforcement of unauthorized immigration law may have on local expenditures" ; and �l%e��eay, the South Bend Common Council and the South Bend City Administration worked and collaborated together to carefully weigh and balance city priorities in order to reduce expenditures of tax dollars funding the General Fund and the Parks & Recreation Fund from 2006 through 2010, which resulted in: • 15.5 %decrease in the General Fund spending totaling$10.9 million • 1.6%decrease in the Parks &Recreation Fund spending totaling$180,000 while also having interest earnings being reduced by$I.8 million for this same period of time;