"The incentive is strong enforcement of immigration law," Smith said. "If you don't register, we assume that you're not registering for a reason ... because you have something to hide and aren't willing to contribute to the state in the way we expect."

Smith said it is the chamber's contention that the preponderance of undocumented workers in the state are already contributing to their communities and this proposal creates an avenue for a new level of engagement.

"It would allow the majority of the people that are here to come forward, to work with us and become part of the community," Smith said.

Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, questioned how many of the current undocumented workers living in Utah could pass the security screening and how effective that screening process would be.

"How are you going to find enough people who have not engaged in use of fraudulent documents or identity theft," Madsen said. "I get the impression that there is room in this program for those who have committed crimes."

Smith's program outline indicates applicants to the program would be processed through the Interagency Border Inspection System Name Check system, administered by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service and, if further review is merited, screened for criminal offenses by the FBI.

Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake, said he took Smith's presentation as a positive alternative viewpoint on the immigration issue and characterized SB81 as an ongoing "work in progress" that could undergo further changes and modifications before its scheduled implementation on July 1, 2009. He noted that President-elect Barack Obama's appointment of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to head the Department of Homeland Security could set a new tone at the federal level on immigration issues. A lack of action by the federal government, Romero said, has put individual states, including Utah, in a position of having to create state-level solutions to problems not being addressed in Washington.

In 2006, Napolitano and Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. crafted a guest worker proposal that successfully passed the Western Governors' Association. Arizona is widely considered to have some of the toughest immigration statutes in the country.

Provisions of Guest Worker Proposal

• Register as Worker

Applicants must register all relevant contact data including name, address, telephone number, etc. to the state. Data must be updated if any changes are made. Failure to update is grounds for revocation of worker status.

• Security Check