California Protection Act 2010

By Kimberly Dvorak

San Diego –A new state ballot initiative is set to challenge California’s hotly contentious illegal alien issue. Initiative 09-0010 will begin collecting signatures from California registered voters in June. Once the signatures are processed, the ballot will appear on the June 2010 statewide election ballot.
Dubbed as the “California Taxpayer Protection Act of 2010,” it sets out to protect California taxpayers from releasing public benefits to persons who cannot verify lawful presence in the country.
“It’s been a long process to get us this far,” said Ted Hilton of Taxpayer Revolution, the group who authored the initiative. “I’d say we’ve been working on this for more than 10 years. I’ve consulted with many Constitutional attorneys to get it right.”
His hard work is about to be put to the test. “California has been hit hard with illegal alien public spending that is out of control,” he contends.
Highlights of the proposed bill include, applicants for state, local, and state-administered federal aid to verify lawful presence in the United States. Additionally, applications for public benefits submitted by undocumented parents on behalf of their lawful-resident children will be given to federal authorities.
According to the Attorney General for the state of California, who prepares the title and summary, the state would deny birth certificates to children born to undocumented parents unless the mother provides a fingerprint and other information to be given to the federal authorities.
Finally, the initiative eliminates benefits for children in child-only CalWORKS cases which are not mandated by federal law.
“This initiative follows the intent of the framers of this country,” U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif. said. “Article V of the 14th Amendment gives us the right to define subject to the jurisdiction.”
The bottom line is this initiative is a common sense approach, according to Bilbray. “This is a concept of fairness that is very moderately written to solve some of California’s problems.”
He continues to say that it is absurd to write welfare checks to people without checking their legal status.
This ballot measure is surely going to raise the bar for the illegal immigration reform on both sides of the issue.
As recently as last month Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. is on record as saying, “we must stop these raids. They’re Un-American.”
For those who want reassurance, the public benefits restrictions in this initiative have already passed and are on the books in five states, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma and Arizona. The latter state’s bill was challenged in the ninth circuit court and it was upheld to be lawful, says Hilton.
Verification of affidavits by qualified aliens for public benefits will be verified with Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), operated by the Department of Homeland Security. This agency will be responsible for protecting the state’s taxpayers from unlawful disbursement of public-state-and-federal funds.
The Taxpayer Revolution organization contends that the state could save upwards of $2 billion dollars.
“This initiative will save taxpayer money and slow down rampant illegal border crossings,” Hilton states.
San Diego Minutemen Founder Jeff Schwilk concurs. “The bottom line is that this initiative turns off a very large magnet and stops the anchor baby factor. It basically keeps the family status the same as when they entered the country illegally.”
Schwilk’s involvement with Taxpayer Revolution dates back a number of years and he has witnessed all the hard work the organization has put into this proposed ballot measure.
Cuban national, Tony Dolz, a naturalized citizen, who immigrated legally to this country strongly believes this ballot measure is needed. “My father was an attorney before he died and instilled on his children a respect for the rule of law and above all for the U.S. Constitution,” he said.
“We are a generous nation as shown by taking 1.5 million immigrants annually, a greater number than any other nation in the world,” Dolz explains. “I believe that foreigners who jump in front of the line of millions of law abiding foreigners that are in the process of complying with our immigration laws and who are doing so are showing disrespect for our country and its laws.”
Finally Bilbray states, “This is the type of initiative that should be a federal law. I endorse this new proposed ballot initiative.”
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Backed up by fact, Hilton notes in 1987 California’s teenage birth rate was below the national average. One short year later, pre-natal care commenced for illegal aliens. “Four years later that caused the state’s teenage birth rate to grow to twice the national average and the highest of any state,” says Hilton.
According to the State of California, Department of Public Health’s latest birth records show there were 562,157 live births. A staggering 293,276 were born to a mother of Hispanic background.
“The state estimates between 20-25 percent of all births each year are to those here illegally. It is becoming very evident that the parents lack of ability to pay for these births and immediately require public services to care for these children,” Hilton said.
“Our citizen movement will launch a state and national debate to bring an end to “birth tourism” and automatic citizenship in the United States,” Hilton continues.
“The goal to stop automatic citizenship is critical toward reducing crime. A major reason deported criminal illegal aliens return immediately to the country after deportation is because they have left behind children who were born in the U.S.”
Before leaving office former Homeland Security Director, Michael Chertoff reported there were more than two million criminal illegal aliens in the United States.

Other items included in the initiative:

*Requires illegal mother to provide identification with a photograph, fingerprints and fees in person
*Ends all illegal public funded benefits
*Ends prenatal care for illegal aliens
*Terminates all child welfare checks to illegal aliens (some of which are sent out of the country)

For more information on this initiative and other California reform groups see the links located on the side of this story. For further information regarding the California Taxpayer Protection Act and the actual ballot initiative visit taxpayerrevolution.org.