County legislators press petition against in-state tuition for illegal immigrants - Local lawmakers vocal in opposition to law
Through the Years 05-05-11
The Petition to Stop a Nightmare
By Sen. Joe Getty, District 5
Reprinted by permission from Sen. Joe Getty, District 5. This previously appeared in Facebook & was published in the Northern News on May 5, 2011
A petition drive is underway to require a ballot referendum for the recently-passed bill (Senate Bill 167) allowing illegal immigrants to qualify for reduced tuition rates at Maryland’s public universities.
Under the state constitution, citizens may take bills passed by the General Assembly to referendum under a petition process that requires gathering over 55,000 signatures from registered voters throughout the state. If the petition process is successful, the bill does not take effect unless it is approved by voters in the 2012 election.
Over the course of recent elections, petition drives to take bills to referendum are rarely successful. The threshold for certifying the petitions is just too high.
First, the time-frame for gathering signatures is too short. One-third of the signatures must be collected by May 31. The remainder must be turned in to the State Board of Elections by the end of June.
In addition, the technical requirements to certify the signatures are difficult. The names must be registered voters who sign on “approved” petition sheets separated in a county-by-county basis. The printed name and signature of the registered voter must strictly match (full middle name or middle initial, etc.) the name under which they registered to vote.
The strict validation process means that many of the signatures will be rejected. Combined with the high number of signatures required and the short time frame for collecting, organizers of the petition drive face a tough challenge.
If you wish to support this effort, the easiest way is to use the automated form at the website http://mdpetitions.com. After you fill in the information, you need to print out the petition, sign it and mail it to Del. Neil C. Parrott (one of the lead organizers of the petition drive).
The members of the Carroll County legislative delegation are also involved in the distribution and collection of these petitions.
As a member of the State Senate, I voted against Senate Bill 167. Part of my opposition to the bill was based upon my experience in working with local residents when I served in the House of Delegates, 1995 - 2003.
As a delegate, I was surprised at how frequently I heard from parents of students about the difficulty in achieving admission to a state college or university. During the senate floor debate on March 14, I explained my opposition to the bill based upon the rationale that illegal immigrants will take away the limited in-state admission slots.
Our state rations higher education in Maryland. There are only a certain number of spots available at each institution. For many campuses, there is a stiff competition for admission of incoming freshman.
With only a certain number of admission slots available, I would frequently receive a phone call from constituents questioning why their child was rejected from admission to a specific state college or university. The student typically had an outstanding academic record in local public schools. The student also displayed leadership qualities in varsity sports, student government and other organizations.
They may have been the first student from their family attempting to go to college. Moreover, the family had paid taxes their entire life to support the Maryland college and university system. Regardless, with a limited number of incoming slots, sometimes the best local students just don’t make the cut to their top choice in higher education.
This realization is particularly hard to fathom for long-time Maryland residents. When my grandfather from New Windsor served on the board of trustees at College Park, the school was known as the Maryland Agricultural College and catered to “ag students.”
When my father was applying to colleges, all that was needed was a high school diploma and you were accepted to University of Maryland College Park. For my generation of high school graduates, you only needed a “C average” in order to be accepted at College Park and it typically was your “backup” plan if you were not accepted to your first choices.
Thus, it is ironic for today’s students that our families have paid taxes to make Maryland’s university system one of the top-ranked in the nation while at the same time making it harder for their own children and other local students to gain admission.
The in-state tuition bill is known as the “Dream Act” for illegal immigrants based upon a similar bill in the U.S. Congress. As I explained to my senate colleagues during the floor debate, my constituents in Baltimore and Carroll counties have dreams too.
In this economic recession, many families are struggling financially while still trying to provide a college education for their children. They might desire go to a private school, in-state or out of state, but with the state of the current economy, the University of Maryland system is their best prospect financially.
Providing scarce admission slots to illegal immigrants is just not fair to the families of long-time law-abiding and tax-paying citizens of this state. Although amendments were added to the bill that would supposedly prevent the loss of in-state slots to illegal immigrants, many are skeptical that such slots can be preserved under the university’s budgetary constraints.
A similar bill for in-state tuition for illegal immigrants was passed eight years ago by the Maryland General Assembly. Immediately after the 2003 legislative session, it was vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
As policy director in Ehrlich’s office, I coordinated the writing of the veto message for that bill. In addition to the fact that in-state slots would be taken from legal Maryland residents, we offered several other policy reasons for the governor’s veto.
Foremost, was the conflict that existed with federal law. Granting in-state status to illegal immigrants is a direct violation of the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
Ehrlich also raised concerns about the potentially large fiscal cost to the state. The fiscal note to the bill passed this year stated that there is no way to calculate the number of illegal immigrants that might qualify but estimated that the costs could reach more than $3.5 million a year by 2016.
The identical policy issues outlined in the 2003 veto letter exist today. Legal Maryland taxpayers could find their own children excluded from their higher education institution of choice while at the same time being required to foot the bill for tuition reductions (expected to cost millions of dollars) for illegal immigrants.
Whose dream is that?
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