Is new anti-illegal immigrant measure legal? Columbia County commissioners ask court to decide
Columbia County commissioners have asked the courts to decide if ballot Measure 5-190, the anti-illegal immigrant measure that passed Nov. 4 with 57 percent voter approval, is legal and enforceable.
The county filed for a Petition for Validation of Local Government Action with the Columbia County Circuit Court on Nov. 10 regarding the proposed county ordinance that would enforce Measure 5-190, which punishes business owners – particularly general contractors and subcontractors – in Columbia County who hire undocumented workers.
The courts will decide if any or all of the measure is legal and able to be enforced by the county.
A report filed two months ago by the county’s legal counsel cautioned commissioners that Measure 5-190 and the similar ballot Measure 5-191, which didn’t pass, were poorly written and unlikely to survive legal challenges.
Any person interested in contesting “the legality, validity and effect” of the county’s proposed Ordinance No. 2008-06, which would enforce ballot Measure 5-190 -- in effect investigating any business owner who has a claim made against them that they’ve hired undocumented workers, as well as enforcing stop work orders and punitive fines of $10,000 for contractors or subcontractors found to have hired such workers -- must do so before Dec. 13.
A copy of the legal opinion regarding the ballot measure and the Petition for Judicial Validation are posted on the county’s Web site at www.co.columbia.or.us.