Rep. Carr Withdraws Bill That Prioritized Foreign Labor Over Native Tennessee Workers

Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –

Representative Dale Carr (R-Sevierville-District 12) has withdrawn a piece of legislation that would have made Tennessee more appealing to illegal immigrants by making it easier for employers to replace Tennessee workers with foreign labor.

As introduced, the legislation would have allowed state and local governmental entities to forgo verification of a nonresident alien’s status, so long as the nonresident alien either holds a valid J-1 visa, a valid H-2B visa, or holds a valid visa for participation in an international culinary internship program.

This would have defeated the point of established verification measures like the systematic alien verification for entitlements (SAVE) program or the student and exchange visitor information system (SEVIS).  

More information on these visa programs and other details of this legislation can be found in The Tennessee Conservative’s initial article on HB0004.

Representative Carr withdrew HB0004 from consideration on January 30th.

HB0004, in summary, authorizes certain visa holders to seek employment or an internship in this state consistent with federal law without verification by a state or local governmental entity through the systematic alien verification for entitlements (SAVE) program or the student and exchange visitor information system (SEVIS) if the alien can provide the applicable state or local governmental entity with proof satisfactory of the alien’s status.

Carr also withdrew another similar bill, HB0260 from consideration on the same date.

HB0260, in summary, authorizes certain visa holders to seek employment or an internship in this state consistent with federal law without verification by a state or local governmental entity through the systematic alien verification for entitlements (SAVE) program or the student and exchange visitor information system (SEVIS) if the alien cannot be verified and the alien executes an affidavit under penalty of perjury that the alien is authorized to work in the United States under a J-1, H-2B, or international culinary internship visa.

Both bills were sponsored by Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plain-District 8) in the Senate as SB0151 and SB0310 respectively.

Had this bill passed, Tennesseans would likely have seen a rise in cheap foreign labor which would negatively impact opportunities and wages available to U.S. citizens.

Additionally, this bill seemed to prioritize helping businesses import temporary foreign labor, over and above the livelihoods of Tennesseans.

While we do not currently know why Carr chose to pull the bills from consideration, feedback from our previous articles suggests that conservatives and Republican primary voters in Tennessee were very much opposed to it.

The Tennessee Conservative is currently running a poll on Twitter asking if Tennessee needs more foreign labor.  Currently 88% of respondents say No.

Currently, Carr does not have any other active bills that are under the same ‘Labor’ heading as HB0004 and HB0260.  Due to this, any one of his other pieces of legislation, that could be caption bills, cannot be flipped to take their place.

Additionally, the deadline for the House to file new bills was January 31st at the end of the day.  

In the Senate, the deadline to file new bills is today, February 2nd.  

Due to these factors, we believe this legislation is dead for this session but we will keep a close watch next year for the introduction of similar legislation.

About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative  ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career.  Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others.  He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History.  Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com