LBC E-Verify Ordinance is needed to decrease city unemployment rates and create jobs for legal residents

Published in the Lb Press Telegram 8/2/2011

The city council is too busy redistricting council districts, banning plastic bags, and over regulating the economy to look into creating jobs through intelligent financial /political policy. The unemployment rate in Long Beach is 14% with a population of 472,000. According to the LBUSD there are about 36,000 illegal immigrants in Long Beach including children. A citywide e-verify ordinance similar to the one implemented in the city of Temecula is the solution to decreasing unemployment in Long Beach. The Temecula E-verify ordinance requires, E-verify participation verification be presented in order to obtain or renew a business license within Temecula city limits. Many employment opportunities would be created in Long Beach decreasing unemployment rates by at least 4-5%.

The city council leadership talks of following LA County’s political precedent… why not look into the precedent set at the following cities, Mission Viejo, Temecula, and Murrieta? So with one simple ordinance, we could stop MOST illegal immigrants from working within long beach city limits. E-verify will help put the unemployed, students, and any willing able body person back to work! Long Beach and the rest of LA County need to implement an E-Verify ordinance to put some legal residents back to work.

Having an E-Verify ordinance is no different than the city enforcing speeding laws that are already on the books. This isn't about profiling; this isn't about race, economic class, crime, or anything else. This is about the fact that if you are not a legal citizen; you can't work in this country period. E-verify is a free federal service to verify! No business has an excuse not to use it.



I am sure there are many good workers who are honest and are here illegally, but for many having work is a privilege these days and work should go to legal workers. With an unemployment rate of 12%, some estimate it is 18% in reality, California can't afford not to enforce E-verify. The time has come to take a stance. You are either for illegal aliens and open borders or you are for USA laws and sovereignty it is just that simple.

Imagine how many jobs we could create in Long Beach with E-verify? I forecast unemployment rates falling below 10% in the city of Long Beach stimulating the local economy, in addition to increasing tax revenue for the city. The City Council should look into an E-Verify ordinance and help put Long Beach back to work, instead of redistricting unnecessarily and creating more bad business policy. Why can’t Long Beach set the precedent for E-verify in LA County? Maybe the LA City Council will follow the LB City Councils precedent for a change..

Jason Aula
Eastside Long Beach
Long Beach Young Republicans Political Director

Citations:

1.http://www.cityoftemecula.org/Temecula/Businesses/BusinessLicenses/EVerify.htm

2. http://www.laalmanac.com/immigration/im04a.htm

3. http://www.lbpost.com/business/don

Long Beach Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance is bad business policy and violates the CA constitution

California’s Green jihad has led to bad business decisions all over LA county including Long Beach. Since before the recession California manufacturing has been on a decline. Los Angeles is still the nation’s largest industrial area, has lost a remarkable one-fifth of its manufacturing employment since 2005. California’s green theology has lead to multiple illogical economic and political decisions. The plastic bag ban law in LA county and Long Beach is a textbook example!

In November of 2010 California voters passed proposition 26, which requires local government to achieve a supermajority vote to pass new taxes and fees such as the fee associated with the plastic bag ban in Long Beach. Even though the city receives no money from this fee, the city government is still controlling how bag revenue is used. Requirements for how revenue is used means retailers are acting as an agent of the government, which under proposition 26 would qualify as a fee. Proposition 26 is supposed to stop politicians from using a loophole to raise even more taxes by disguising them as fees.



What this means is that every part of the plastic bag ban except for the fee is legal until the city of Long Beach can put a citywide vote on the matter. This vote would need to achieve two-thirds supermajority to make this 0.10 cents paper bag surcharge legal. Lets save the environment, by banning plastic bags the way San Francisco has with out a fee, a fee that will drive shoppers away from Long Beach. Why has’nt anyone taken this up in the local Long Beach courts?

Jason Aula

Eastside Long Beach

Long Beach Young Republicans Political Director

Citations:

1. Text of Proposition 26, the Supermajority Vote to Pass New Taxes and Fees Act (California)http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Text_of_Proposition_26,_the_Supermajority_Vote_to_Pass_New_Taxes_and_Fees_Act_%28California%29

2. California Proposition 26, Supermajority Vote to Pass New Taxes and Fees (2010)http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_26,_Supermajority_Vote_to_Pass_New_Taxes_and_Fees_%282010%29