Food Collection -- THIS Sunday

Please bring your donations of non-perishable foods to service this Sunday. Our youngest members will collect your donations during the Offering, and they (the food -- not the kiddos) will be given to one of the four immigrant families that we are supporting here in Pinellas County.

Clothing for the Children of Migrant Workers

Thank you for your continued generosity. Our bins are now empty, and we use could your help to fill them before our next visit to the camps on February 18th. We still need volunteers for this trip -- contact Karen at the Social Justice table after service or at 898-8038 or kcoale@tampabay.rr.com to sign-up.

Florida Legislative Update: Senate Committee of Higher Education Votes Against In-state Tuition for Second Generation immigrants

The Florida Senate committee on Higher Education voted against passing SB 1018, a bill that would guarantee in-state tuition eligibility for U.S. born citizens and legal permanent residents regardless of the immigration status of their parents.

One point of the bill was to help children of illegal immigrants, who currently have to pay out-of-state tuition, afford college. That out-of-state cost is three to four times as much. "The intent of this bill, in the end, is to try to rectify a wrong," said Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, who sponsored the bill. "I just want to make sure the students have the same privileges that I did, or that you had... Regardless of their parents' status." SB 1018 failed on a 3-3 tie vote.

Federal Legislation Update

Once AGAIN the DREAM Act is being proposed in the US Congress. It has 71 co-sponsors in the House and 34 co-sponsors in the Senate. This popular bill has come up for several years, but has fallen just a little bit short of passage. So this year, advocates are hoping to start early and raise the profile of the DREAM Act high.

We hope you will help out by signing petitions to our US Congressmen and Senators -- encouraging them to be a co-sponsor. Info sheets and petitions will be available on Sunday, February 12.

Clothing for the Children of Migrant Workers

Thank you for your continued generosity. Our bins are now empty, and we use could your help to fill them before our next visit to the camps on February 18. We still need volunteers for this trip -- contact Karen at the Social Justice table after service or at 898-8038 or kcoale@tampaby.rr.com to sign-up.

Florida Legislative Update -- Proposed Immigrant Related Legislation

What a change a year makes! There are four types of bills that we SUPPORT, and two that we OPPOSE.

There are two sets of bills focused on charging in-state tuition -- with the first set being the preferred outcome.

House Bill 81 and Senate Bill 106 would provide in-state tuition for all students who graduated from high schools in FL, regardless of their status.

Two additional bills, HB 441 and SB 1018, would require resident status of the student -- but not of the parents -- in order to be charged in-state tuition.

Two bills have also been filed in the Florida Senate that would provide other opportunities for the state’s immigrant communities:

SB 1294: Florida Kidcare Program: Allows children of lawfully present immigrants (those who were previously banned from participating in federal programs for 5 years) who are otherwise eligible to participate in the Kidcare program. Congress removed the prohibition and now provides the same matching funds as it does for other children in the program.

SB 1760: Restrictive Driving Privilege Card/Illegal Immigrant Residing in this State: Issues restrictive driving privilege card to undocumented immigrants to allow them to drive motor vehicles on the highways of this state.

However the Wage Protection for Employees bills, HB 609 and SB 862, do not support the immigrant communities or any low wage or daily worker. These bills remove the ability of local governments (which Miami has already passed such an ordinance) to protect workers by passing local ordinances or laws that prohibit the stealing of wages by not paying and that sets up ways to collect the money that is owed to workers. These bills say that only the state should have this responsibility but they don’t put any requirement on the state to enforce the law.

The Verification of Employment Eligibility bills, HB 1315 and SB 1638, would require all businesses to verify immigration status via a federal database. This is the only Arizona like immigration legislation proposed so far in this session. It was proposed last year and defeated by the agricultural and tourism lobbies.

Are you a parent, or do you just enjoy being connected with children? Join in the UU St. Pete Religious Education Ministry!

Speak to anyone on Sunday who is wearing a yellow "Ask Me About Kids At UUSP" ribbon. We are happy to bring you into the RE circle.

Dolores Benjamin, Chair