NB Job-Licensing Bill for Immigrants Vetoed

LINCOLN, Neb. (CN) — Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts on Friday vetoed a bill to allow young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children to obtain professional and commercial licenses.

The legislation, LB947, would only apply to immigrants who are now legal residents of the country and obtain work authorization papers from the Department of Homeland Security. To those affected, potential careers would open up in over 100 professions.

"The Legislature finds that it is in the best interest of the state of Nebraska to make full use of the skills and talents in the state by ensuring that a person who is work-authorized is able to obtain a professional or commercial license and practice his or her profession," the bill says.

LB947 passed the Legislature by a 33-11 on Wednesday, three more votes than what is required to override the governor's veto.

Ricketts, a first-term Republican, had strongly urged senators to vote against LB947 and said that the legislation "undermines the rule of law and is unjust to all the immigrants, permanent residents, and naturalized citizens who legally followed the established process."

Ricketts further insisted that this is a federal issue to be resolved by Congress, but had declined to state whether or not he would veto the bill once it hit his desk.

Now that Rickets has vetoed the bill, it returns to Nebraska's unicameral Legislature for a final vote. Thirty votes are required to override the veto and enact the law over the governor's objections.

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