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SALT LAKE CITY -- The House approved an amended version of HB191 after some pointed debate Monday.
The bill calls for a repeal of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants in Utah. Its sponsor Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, said it's not unreasonable for the state to require illegal immigrants to demonstrate they pay taxes in order to obtain the tuition benefit.
"All we're asking for is a little personal responsibility," he said. "How could that be wrong?"
Undocumented immigrant college students would still be able to get resident tuition if they or their parents can show they have paid income taxes for three years.
Rep. Kay McIff, R-St. George, said the repeal proposal has come up three times since he's been in the Legislature.
"Each time it was bad public policy. It's bad public policy now," he said.
McIff argued the bill would discourage Latinos, whether citizens or not, from attending college.
In 2002, the Legislature passed a bill allowing undocumented students who complete three years of high school in Utah and graduate to be eligible for in-state college tuition. The payment of income taxes by either the student, parents or a guardian is to coincide with those three years of schooling.
Currently, 643 noncitizen students attend Utah colleges and universities, generating $2.3 million in resident tuition. According to legislative fiscal analysts, that figure would be $5.5 million higher if they paid nonresident tuition.
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