Massachusetts Senate Approves Budget Amendment Containing Immigration-Related Prohibitions

The New York Times reports that the Massachusetts Senate has voted 28 to 10 in favor of an immigration-related amendment (pdf) to the state budget bill that would require state contractors to verify that their workers are legally authorized to live and work in the United States. The proposed law also would penalize contractors violating the law by prohibiting them from doing business with the state. Additionally, the state attorney general’s office would be required to set up a hotline by which people could anonymously report alleged hiring of illegal immigrants, and to investigate such allegations.