By Lenna Kottke, Executive Director, Special Transit

In July 2006, the Colorado State Legislature enacted HB 06S-1023, which became effective on Aug. 1, 2006. The legislation requires people who apply for publicly-funded benefits to provide proof that they are lawfully present in the United States.

Special Transit, a private nonprofit organization based in Boulder, provides door-through-door, driver-assisted trips for people unable to drive due to age, disability, health condition or income level. People who contact us for help rarely come to our offices to apply or to register. They contact us by phone; we collect necessary information about their living circumstances, mobility limitations and transportation needs; then we schedule their trips. They may travel for any purpose, including medical and therapy trips, access to crisis services, meal sites, grocery shopping, employment, education, social or recreational trips. There is no means testing required to get a ride.

While Special Transit has a diverse funding base, more than 30 percent of our funding comes from city and county governments. As a result of that funding, we have been told by attorneys for Boulder County and the city of Longmont that HB-1023 requires us to begin to verify the legal status of all persons requesting our services. They must present a valid Colorado identification card (drivers' license or ID) or one of three other specified pieces of documentation. They must also sign a certification of legal status, including their Social Security number, which we must verify using a Homeland Security database.

We receive calls from approximately 80 new riders a month. Seventy-seven percent of these individuals are over 60, and 47 percent are over 80 years old. Only 10 percent are non-Caucasian; most of these are English-speaking. Many of these individuals have hearing problems, memory loss or other limitations that require the utmost patience in assisting them. Many seniors have been told not to give out their Social Security number and are reluctant to do so.

We will now be required to explain this new verification process to them, send them the form they must sign and require them to return to us the signed certification form and an acceptable form of identification. (NOTE: They are not likely to have a valid drivers' license, or they would not be calling us for a ride. If they do have a valid ID, they must make a copy of it for us, but they cannot travel to do so unless they can find someone to give them a ride.)

We anticipate that the numbers of seniors and people with disabilities who are able to navigate the new requirements and access our services will be limited. In the meantime, our reservationists and schedulers will be spending a great deal more time on the phone with each potential new client, and we will have to spend many hours verifying and following up on missing paperwork. The cost of implementing these new regulations will far exceed the potential expenditure of public funds to provide an essential ride for someone who is not in the country legally.

Special Transit is one of many nonprofit organizations throughout the county and state impacted by this legislation. We are service providers, not immigration authorities. On behalf of the more than 2,000 older adults and people with disabilities Special Transit serves annually, I ask the state legislature to take action to correct the provisions of this legislation that so negatively impact nonprofit organizations and those we serve.