The Michigan Chamber of Commerce supports reform of national immigration laws  to allow foreign-born, highly skilled  professionals increased   access to job opportunities in the United States. The Michigan Chamber believes such reform is necessary as part of a comprehensive strategy to address existing workforce shortages, especially in technology dependent businesses and industry, and that such legislation should provide maximum flexibility in hiring without increasing the regulatory burden for job providers.

Background

A study conducted by the United States Department of Labor (DOL) in 1998 found that there were  340,000 job vacancies in the high-tech industry. The Society for Human Resource Management  estimates this number will reach one million by 2008 if short and long-term solutions are not implemented. 

The Immigration Act of 1990 (IMMACT) was designed to allow highly skilled, foreign workers the opportunity to work in the United States, but limits the number of visas granted each year in order to protect the domestic labor market. These visas are commonly referred to as H-1B, or specialty worker,  visas. Employers must comply with strict regulatory requirements when petitioning for an H1-B visa. In order to obtain an H1-B visa for foreign-born potential employees, employers must:

• Limit visa petitions to those potential employees who have a minimum of a bachelor's degree in a specific occupational specialty, or a combination of education and experience equivalent to a bachelor's  degree and who hold all required licenses.
• Pledge to pay at least 95% of the prevailing wage, or the actual wage, whichever is higher, and provide equal benefits to H1-B employees. Benefits may not be included in calculating the prevailing wage. The actual wage is the wage paid by the employer to other employees with the same job duties, education, and experience.
• File with the DOL and post in the workplace a Labor Condition Application (LCA). The LCA must contain the position, rate of pay offered, number of workers being sought, and how the prevailing wage rate was calculated.
• Pay an H1-B filing fee of $110, and an additional fee of $500 earmarked for scholarships and training programs, and to fund DOL administration and enforcement of the visa program.
• H-1B visa eligibility covers a variety of jobs that normally require a specific type of college degree and training, including engineering, computer science, biotechnology, medicine, architecture and physical sciences.

Raising the H-1B visa cap is a short-term solution to the workforce shortage problem. The ability to hire H-1B professionals allows employers to meet product and service demand, continue research and new product development, and remain competitive while longer term solutions are developed. The Michigan Chamber has long identified improved quality of K-12 education, expanded technical training, and curriculum revisions as necessary components of preparing American students for these job opportunities. While the business community, elected officials and educators develop long-term strategies relating to changes in the education system, interim measures are necessary to alleviate serious workforce shortages.

IMMACT capped the number of H1-B visas that could be issued to 65,000 per Federal fiscal year (October 1 - September 30).  In 1998, Congress raised the cap to 115,000 for FY 1999 and FY 2000, stepping back to 107,500 in 2001 and returning to 65,000 for 2002 and beyond.  Each year since 1997, the cap has been reached well before the end of the fiscal year. Despite the increase in the cap, this year the cap was reached on March 21 - six months before the end of the fiscal year.

Several proposals to raise the cap again are currently pending in Congress, two of which meet the criteria in the Chamber's policy proposal.  H.R. 3983 [Drier (R-CA) and Lofgren (D-CA)] would raise the cap to 200,000 for FY 2001-2003 and address strengthening American educational systems. S. 2045 [Hatch (R-UT) and Abraham (R-MI)], would raise the cap to 195,000 through FY 2002 and appropriate $20 million over six years to provide high-tech learning tools and provide scholarships for high-tech areas of study.

Despite bipartisan support for raising the cap, amendatory legislation has been held up by attempts to link unrelated issues to the bills. At the time Congress recessed this summer, the Clinton administration was insisting upon linking the visa legislation to a proposal legalizing the status of Caribbean and Central American migrants now in the country illegally.

The Michigan Chamber of Commerce supports voluntary and cooperative efforts between labor and management to promote safety in the workplace. The Michigan Chamber also encourages the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth (DLEG) to offer education and training programs for employees and employers to help prevent repetitive motion injuries and provide information and assistance concerning ergonomics.

Recently, DLEG, under authority granted to the Department through the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act or MIOSHA, began the process to develop a comprehensive state ergonomics standard. Unfortunately, this proposed Michigan ergonomics standard is being developed in the absence of a nationwide federal rule and without any evidence demonstrating that there is a compelling need for Michigan to develop a costly state standard. This attempt to impose an excessive regulatory burden on Michigan employers is in conflict with the message on DLEG’s website that the department was created “to promote job creation and economic growth in Michigan” and also at odds with recent comments by the Governor expressing concern about the outsourcing of jobs to other states.

With state government facing a budget deficit and many of Michigan’s job providers facing growing competition from companies located in other states and foreign countries, the Michigan Chamber strongly believes that now is not the time for the State of Michigan to become only the second state in the country, after California, to unnecessarily impose this type of burdensome regulatory scheme on business. The Michigan Chamber respectfully requests that DLEG halt the rule-making process for a Michigan ergonomics standard. If DLEG continues the effort to impose a state-level ergonomics standard, the Michigan Chamber supports legislation amending the DLEG budget bill to withhold funding for development, administration or enforcement of such a standard.

Background

At a regular meeting of the Michigan Chamber’s Health and Human Resources Committee on March 25, 2004 committee members reviewed and discussed several items including the proposed MIOSHA ergonomics standard.

This issue came to the attention of the news media and lawmakers in February, 2004 when Charles Owens, the State Director of NFIB, resigned from the DLEG Ergonomic Standard Advisory Committee in protest over the “Committee’s intention to promulgate a standard unacceptable to small business.”

In a February 18, 2004 press release Mr. Owens said, “ At a time when Michigan is shedding manufacturing jobs by the thousands, I find it incredible that we are about to become only the second state in the country, besides California, to have our own state specific ergonomics standard replete with fines, penalties and compliance enforcement. Certainly this does not seem to indicate that we are serious about saving and creating jobs in Michigan.”

In a March 2, 2004 new release concerning this subject State Senator Valde Garcia said this type of burdensome regulation will hurt our state. Senator Garcia, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the DLEG budget also said, “This is just one more example of how government restrictions are killing job opportunities in this state. In this case 48 other states see fit to follow OSHA’s guidelines that call for voluntary compliance with ergonomic standards. The Legislature is working to ease restrictions on businesses, not add to their headaches.”

In response to questions and concerns that have been expressed by lawmakers and representatives of the business community, the Department has indicated that it’s their intent to promulgate a standard that will be acceptable to business and labor. The Department has also indicated that it will be several months or perhaps more than a year before the administrative rules process is completed. To date, the Department has not been able to provide documentation indicating that repetitive motion injuries have significantly increased in Michigan or that ergonomic related problems are more serious in Michigan than in other states.

On March 25, 2004 at a regular meeting of the Michigan Chamber’s Health and Human Resources Committee, Chamber members reviewed and discussed this subject. Following a presentation by an experienced corporate industrial hygienist who is very knowledgeable about the MIOSHA Ergonomics Advisory Committee, the Committee agreed to recommend to the Board that the Michigan Chamber support voluntary and cooperative efforts to address the ergonomics issue, while at the same time taking a strong stand against the establishment of a mandatory state standard.

If the Board approves this policy proposal as presented, the first step in carrying out the policy would be for the Chamber to offer to work with the Department on a partnership or strategic alliance on ergonomics to facilitate educational efforts relating to voluntary performance based standards that reflect industry best practices. This type of public-private partnership would provide greater work site flexibility, more quickly address job specific concerns, and would be more consistent with other voluntary efforts to improve health status. If the Department declines to enter into this type of partnership or strategic alliance on ergonomics, the Chamber would then pursue a legislative remedy.

The Michigan Chamber advocates a national policy that encourages and supports responsible and well-planned legal immigration, while at the same time strengthening and protecting our borders to fight illegal immigration. We strongly urge Congress and the President to do their job and promptly address this federal issue in 2008 or 2009.

More specifically, the Michigan Chamber supports comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level that focuses on streamlining and improving the immigration process for people who play by the rules and want to become Americans or work in the United States on a temporary basis, especially in high-demand occupations. In addition, we believe the federal government should devote additional human and financial resources to the federal agencies that are responsible for protecting our borders, and maintain and improve Michigan’s three high-volume border crossings with Canada. 

If Congress cannot or will not adequately address this federal issue, we recognize that state and local units of government may seek to fill the policy vacuum. If so, we strongly believe policymakers should work to avoid the unintended consequences that would result from a piecemeal approach to the immigration issue based on conflicting state and local policies that alternately condone and penalize illegal immigration, while placing an undue burden on employers in the private sector to take primary responsibility for enforcement of state or federal immigration laws. In particular, employers should not be required to be immigration ‘police’ or undertake investigations that are the proper role of law enforcement agencies.

Therefore, we believe any state level immigration legislation should contain provisions that: pre-empt any local ordinances covering the same subject; require any new or additional employment related immigration duties be imposed first on state and local government agencies before being applied to the private sector; require any sanctions imposed on private sector employers for failure to comply with the law must be applied equally to all employers in the public sector; subject any job applicant or employee who knowingly uses false documents to apply for work or obtain employment to be subject to penalties that are at least as severe as the sanctions imposed on employers. No sanctions or liabilities should be imposed on employers unless they knowingly and intentionally violate applicable laws. 

Background

The history of the United States is that we are nation of immigrants. People from around the world who have chosen to become Americans have greatly enriched our society. Each year, millions of people legally cross the U.S. border in search of the American dream – a land of freedom and opportunity. 

Unfortunately, the number of people crossing the U.S. borders illegally has grown unmanageable. Today, there are an estimated 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States (2000 Census) and it is estimated that Michigan’s illegal immigration population ranges anywhere from 70,000 (Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization Services, 2003) to 100,000 to 150,000 (Pew Hispanic Center, 2005) to 200,000 (Federation for American Immigration Reform [FAIR], 2007). 

Given this data, many Americans – and federal, state and local officials -- have become increasingly concerned with illegal immigration and the costs associated with it, including public services such as education, legal and emergency medical systems. To this end, Congress began to tackle the immigration debate in 2006 with little to no success. As a result, states have begun developing a variety of their own approaches and solutions. Immigration-related legislation now covers almost every policy arena, including employment, health, identification, drivers and other licenses, law enforcement, public benefits and human trafficking. 

In December of 2007, the Chamber’s Health and Human Resources (HHR) Committee heard a presentation from the Montana Chamber of Commerce regarding legislation proposed in their state -- similar to that being proposed in Michigan -- to make employers the “immigration police” by making it a felony for employers to hire illegal immigrants, requiring employers to document the legal status of their workers through I-9 forms, and giving workers legal recourse when companies replace them with undocumented laborers. Following this presentation, the HHR Committee voted to recommend this comprehensive immigration reform policy proposal to the Michigan Chamber Board of Directors for its consideration.