A bill under consideration in the Georgia legislature  will take state funding and state-controlled federal funding from local governments that fail to verify the immigration status of applicants for welfare benefits or employment.

Georgia passed a law two years ago that requires local governments to use the federal government’s E-Verify program to screen job applicants, but to date only a dozen or so municipalities and agencies statewide  have signed up for the program.

Georgia Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers told Mary Lou Pickel of the Atlanta Journal Contitution that the measure toughens the state’s stance on illegal immigration and is an effort to spur local governments to take it seriously.

Democrats in the state senate say that the measure sends a hostile message to Georgia’s international community, although the measure passed the body by a vote of 37 to 9.