S.C. laws about immigration, drunken driving to start

COLUMBIA --- Steps to curb illegal immigration and prevent people from drunken driving are among South Carolina's new laws going into effect Thursday.

Under a sweeping anti-illegal immigration measure signed in June, businesses must verify that their new hires are in the U.S. legally. The phased-in requirements start Thursday for businesses of more than 500 employees with public contracts involving manual labor. To comply, businesses can check their new workers through an online federal database or hire workers with a valid driver's license from South Carolina or certain other states.

"Our guys aren't really complaining a whole lot. We think it's a fair bill. We believe they can comply," said Otis Rawl, the president of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. "A lot of our guys are already using E-Verify."

On July 1, the law kicks in for businesses with public contracts employing 100 or more people. That date is also when the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation can start investigating, through random audits or complaints, and begin fining. Until then, the Budget and Control Board can terminate a contract or bar a firm from getting a public contract but has no one to investigate allegations, according to the agencies.

How many firms fit the definition for the Jan. 1 deadline is unclear. An attorney for the board said the state had no way to track that. Under the phase-in, all businesses must comply by July 2010. Employers who don't verify new hires face civil fines of up to $1,000 per worker and temporary shutdowns.

But Lee Depret-Bixio, a business immigration attorney in Columbia, questions whether the law can be enforced even after July 1, especially with state budget cuts.

"It's going be very interesting," she said.

Another new law taking effect Thursday requires repeat drunken drivers to breathe into a device on their steering wheel before starting the car. If the ignition interlock device, attached at the offender's expense, shows a blood-alcohol level of 0.02 or higher, the car won't crank.

"We see too many DUI fatalities caused by repeat offenders," said the law's sponsor, Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia.

The device must stay on the car depending on the number of DUI convictions -- two years for a second offense, three years for a third and the rest of the driver's life for four or more. The device records when the vehicle fails to start, which also increases how long it must stay put.

"We're very excited about it," said Laura Hudson, a spokeswoman for the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and executive director of the S.C. Crime Victims' Council. "It seems to be the one device that will actually modify people's habits. When you just take away a driver's license, they continue to drive anyway."

More than 400 people die annually on South Carolina's roads in accidents involving a driver who is legally drunk, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In addition, legislators set a tentative Jan. 1 start date for a law requiring DNA samples to be taken from people when they're arrested on felony charges. Overriding Gov. Mark Sanford's veto, lawmakers hailed DNA samples as modern fingerprints that will solve and prevent violent crimes. But the law stipulated implementation would depend on funding, which isn't there.

The law, which also makes DNA tests available to prisoners who claim they've been wrongly convicted, would cost more than $3.9 million in the first year and $3 million annually thereafter. The estimate includes six additional DNA analysts, three lab technicians, new equipment and storage for DNA samples taken yearly from more than 75,000 people, said Todd Hughey, SLED's head of forensics.

"There was never any money in our budget for it," said Reggie Lloyd, the director of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

With more than $8 million in state cuts since July, plus a loss of federal grants, "we're already facing some serious issues in terms of our laboratories," Mr. Lloyd said.