Related articles:

Update: Two Arizona business groups file suit against sanctions lawTop Arizona business leaders teaming up to fight sanctions lawGov. downplays criticism, worry about employer sanctions law Employer-sanctions law has major flawsArizona could have the toughest employer sanction law Challenge to entrant-hiring law planned Napolitano gets illegal-hiring bill Governor OKs tough employer sanctions Business owner group says illegal-hire law will hurt Anglos, too Pa. ruling seen as ammunition vs. AZ's employer sanctions

Other articles by Howard Fischer:

Brewer is advised to keep some state appointees in place Renewed interest in 'lieutenant governor' title Havasupai get go-ahead to sue universities State tax revenues far below projections Arizona, local housing numbers get darker McCain plans to run for 5th Senate term Ample perils lurk in toys geared to totsMcCain says he will run for re-election in 2010 State treasurer against levies on local funds US Airways allowed to lay off pilots from old America West

Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic

PHOENIX — Two business groups sued the state Friday to block a new employer-sanctions law from ever taking effect.

The lawsuit contends that the measure, approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Janet Napolitano, illegally intrudes on issues of immigration, which are exclusively the purview of the federal government.

In his U.S. District Court filing, attorney David Selden also said the legislation violates the state constitution because it requires county prosecutors to investigate every complaint that a company is knowingly hiring undocumented workers, something he said lawmakers cannot mandate.

And Selden, who represents the Arizona Contractors Association and Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform, said the procedures in the legislation to determine whether a company is guilty do not afford employers their legal rights.

The lawsuit is the first of what are expected to be several efforts to undo the new law and block a similar initiative, as well as potentially unseat some legislators.

Another new group dubbed Wake Up Arizona also may file its own legal challenge. That group includes former Phoenix Suns chief Jerry Colangelo, Tucson car dealer Jim Click and Mac Magruder, who owns several McDonald's franchises.

Backers also want to raise money to convince voters to defeat an even harsher proposed initiative, one that would put a company out of business after just a single violation of knowingly hiring someone who is in the U.S. illegally.

The new law, which takes effect in January, says a company's state license can be suspended on the first violation, and revoked for a second violation in three years.

The group also is weighing whether to finance efforts to defeat some of the main supporters of the new law, including Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who crafted the measure.

Pearce predicted the lawsuit and efforts to defeat the initiative will fail. And he criticized business groups and owners for trying to thwart the measure.

"I'm sick and tired of the people who think they have the right to break the law and have a competitive, immoral, illegal advantage over the honest business person," he said.

Selden said the problem with the law is that Congress has "exclusive power of matters of immigration," including when people can enter this country, how long they can stay and whether they can work here. He said that includes penalties for those who violate the law — including employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.

Pearce, however, said Congress did allow states to take action against the licenses of those who break the law. He said that makes the new state law legal.

But Selden will argue to a federal judge that states can revoke licenses "only after the employer has been found by the federal government to have violated the federal law." The new state law allows a license to be suspended or revoked after a state judge in a state court concludes that the employer has unauthorized workers.

David Jones, president and chief executive of the contractors' group, said lawmakers who voted for the new state law acted illegally themselves, as did the governor in signing the bill.

"Every elected official in the state takes an oath of office," he said. That includes a pledge to support both the state and federal constitutions.

Pearce said businesses that have become dependent on cheap, and illegal, foreign labor want "amnesty" to be able to continue to break the law. And he said there is no reason for any company that doesn't hire undocumented workers to get into legal trouble.

That's because his legislation requires all employers to check the identity of job seekers through what has become known as the Basic Pilot Program, a federal system that compares the names and Social Security numbers supplied by applicants with a database. Any company that uses that system gets a presumption of innocence if it is charged with breaking the new state law.

Jones said companies in his organization "don't knowingly know that they're hiring undocumented workers." But he said that's not their fault, and they shouldn't face loss of state licenses.

"We don't have a good system in the United States for verification" of an applicant's legal status, he said. "Until we get to a point where employers have a solid reliance on who they're dealing with, we can't just arbitrarily say we're going to rely on the Basic Pilot Program to do all this."

For more border-related news, including a database of illegal immigrants who have died along the border and the blog "Working the Line," go to azstarnet.com/border.