For the fourth time, the Senate has debated illegal immigration reform. Recently, we acted on H. 3032, an amended bill with a requirement for e-verify for all employers in South Carolina. The Senate could not amend H. 3032, since it was back from the House a 
second time. Our only option was to “concur” (agree with the House) or “non-concur” (not accept the House’s version). I voted to concur, simply because the last immigration bill sent to conference never survived. If the bill was concurred to, it would have gone to the Governor immediately. The roll call vote to concur lost 20-26. The bill now goes to a conference committee. A conference committee is made up of 3 Senate members and 3 House members.
We now have the possibility of the conference committee passing H. 3032. There is another vehicle on the calendar, H. 4400 that has the chances of passing, yet it would go back to the House, then back to the Senate.
I will continue to fight for any available avenue for true immigration reform.
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