We have much to report in this Update from the State Immigration Project, and not only in response to Arizona’s recent anti-immigrant law (SB 1070) and its aftermath.

• A broad network of elected officials, State Legislators for Progressive Immigration Policy (SLPIP), continues to grow and now includes legislators from twenty nine states;
• Despite considerable mainstream media coverage of anti-immigrant proposals, state legislators are advancing pro-immigrant legislation and have largely blocked anti-immigrant bills being pushed in the wake of Arizona’s law;
• A federal judge has blocked implementation of most provisions of SB 1070;
• Based on state policy models, the federal DREAM Act to support a path to legalization and access to higher education for immigrant youth continues to gain support;
• A wide range of policy and polling resources have been released that support pro-immigrant action from legislators and advocates.

Washington became the fifth state to pass the national popular vote (NPV) compact when Gov. Gregoire signed the legislation on May 6th. 61 electoral votes, 23% of the 270 needed to achieve a national popular vote are now committed to the compact. Washington joins Maryland, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Illinois as members of the compact. This is the first state to pass NPV into law in 2009.

While immigration continued to be debated in states across the country this session, most anti-immigrant bills were defeated and more positive approaches to new immigrants were debated.  Even in sessions dominated by budget crises, positive policies were enacted in many states.

States across the country are proposing in-state college tuition rates for undocumented students, a move mirrored by Congress' proposed  DREAM Act, which was re-introduced at the federal level on March 25th. Currently ten states allow undocumented immigrants to enroll in state colleges and universities under the cheaper in-state tuition rate category: California, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Washington.  In recent years, anti-immigrant legislators sought to modify or repeal laws providing access to in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, though they've failed each time.  This session, those efforts failed again in Utah and Nebraska. Kansas didn't even bring up repealing it.

Broadband and Technology Update

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Table of Contents

Stimulus Update

New Mexico Passes Media Literacy Bill

Washington State Legislature Passes Legislation Aimed at Increasing both Access and Adoption of Broadband

Re-Cap of North Carolina Municipal Broadband Battle To Date

2009 Sample Broadband and Technology Legislation