BOISE -- A senator's latest quest to roust illegal immigrants from Idaho is over, at least for now.
On Monday, the Senate State Affairs Committee killed a measure from Hayden Republican Sen. Mike Jorgenson that would have required business owners to screen their workers using a federal background check system.
Under the measure voted down 7-2, employers who knowingly hired illegal workers could have lost their business licenses.
Brent Olmstead, who represents the dairy and construction industries, said legislators shouldn't foist the federal E-Verify system on Idaho employers because the program is difficult to use and sometimes inaccurate.
Jorgenson said regular taxpayers must foot the bill for the health care, education and imprisonment of undocumented workers.
It was Jorgenson's third year trying to pass similar legislation, which is modeled after a 2008 Arizona law.
