State Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, D-Methuen, said she voted not to essentially kill a proposal to require adults applying for public benefits to verify that they lawfully live in the United States.
The House voted 82-75 yesterday to send to study a proposal sponsored by Rep. Jeff Perry, R-Sandwich. The proposal would have required all state agencies to implement a national system of identity checks on residents who use taxpayer-funded services, which Perry said would cost $6 per application but could return significant savings.
Campbell said voting to study the proposal was really a vote to “bury it.”
“I voted not to put it to study, to keep it alive,” Campbell said. “I feel that when we register our children for school, we present birth certificates. When we go down to get a license for the first time, we present a birth certificate. When we get a passport, we present a birth certificate or some kind of document of citizenship.”
“As long as illegal aliens are not prevented from receiving emergency medical care and as long as their children who are citizens born in the United States are not prevented from getting care, then I think it’s a reasonable request,” she said.
Campbell said a Boston newspaper got her vote on the hot-button issue wrong, and she was receiving “quite a few phone calls.” She said she wanted to set the record straight for her constituents.
Opponents of the proposal pointed out that Perry couldn’t quantify how much the state would save or whether there would be any saving at all, and they said it was a veiled attempt to target certain groups of people in Massachusetts.
“I don’t think this is an onerous request,” Campbell said. “I think it’s a fair request and I don’t find it discriminatory.”
Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.
