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HOUSE AND SENATE AGREE TO ELIMINATE SECTION 110
Under an agreement finalized this week, the US Senate and the House of Representatives have decided to repeal Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.  Section 110, whose effective date was repeatedly postponed because of implementation problems, would have mandated a strictly controlled entry-exit system at American border posts and points of entry.  Many believe it would have brought cross-border traffic to a standstill, and would have had a severe negative impact on international business. 
Now the Chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee, Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and the Chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, Lamar Smith (R-TX), along with Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), have reached an agreement that will replace Section 110 with a more reasonable law.  Under the compromise agreement, the INS will be required to integrate existing data collected by the INS, the Customs Service and the Border Patrol to develop a record of those entering and leaving the US.  
The bill mikes clear that only information that is currently collected would be collected under the new law and that no new documents would be required for US entry. Air and sea ports would be required to comply with the new law by December 31, 2003. Most land ports would have until the end of 2005 to comply, although the 50 busiest would have to compliant by the end of 2004. 
The agreement was introduced as H.R. 4489, the Immigration and Naturalization Service Data Management Improvement Act of 2000 by Representative Smith.