With a federal guest-worker program seemingly off the table, some Arizona lawmakers want Washington to let them try.

Bills filed last week in Arizona's House and Senate seek to create a temporary foreign-worker program that its supporters hope could serve as a model for the country.

Sen. Marsha Arzberger, D-Willcox, and Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, noted early support for the bills, especially in the business community. They acknowledged their plan would require permission from Congress but could not gauge support at this point.

"The federal government won't do it," Arzberger said of the inability to pass federal immigration reforms. "We need workers for our economy."

Konopnicki stressed that the bills would create a two-year test program that allowed only legal immigrants from Mexico who would be screened and monitored.

At least 27 lawmakers have signed on as sponsors to the bills, 18 Democrats and nine Republicans. Colorado lawmakers are considering making a request for a similar guest-worker program.

But critics suggested the idea of Arizona regulating guest workers is flatly wrong.

"It's an earnest cry for help, but it's not a solution," said Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills. "I don't think we can legally do that. . . . It would make us look foolish."

Kavanagh said he would support a guest-worker program, but it must be done at the federal level and could not be used as a way to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants already here.

Both Arzberger and Konopnicki said those who maintained they were against illegal immigrants, not immigrants generally, should support the bills.

The legislation comes as the nation, and Arizona in particular, continue to wrestle with immigration laws that are criticized alternately for being overly lax or out of step with economic reality.

Last week, the Bush administration proposed rule changes that would loosen and expand an existing program for growers to hire foreign workers on a temporary basis. Also, a federal judge in Phoenix upheld Arizona's employer-sanctions law, which punishes businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants.

People such as William Triplett, a Mesa truck driver, bristle when told Americans won't work some jobs. "I know they would. You have to advertise for them and make transportation available," he said.

The business community maintains it has done what it can to fill jobs with Americans, and that a labor shortage hurts the state's growth.

"We must find a way to ensure Arizona businesses have access to a sufficient number of legal workers. Relying on our broken federal immigration system makes this nearly impossible," said Glenn Hamer, president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a statement.

Joe Sigg, the director of government relations for the Arizona Farm Bureau, said raising wages would not fill growers unmet needs.

"Just paying more doesn't increase the size of our native-born labor pool," he said.

Besides, Congress has previously allowed states similar, limited programs, Sigg said.

He said the bracero program, for example, allowed migrant workers to pick tomatoes in California and later expanded from there.

That program began in 1942 during a labor shortage brought on by World War II but ended in 1964 amid criticism that it had become almost legalized slavery.

Bruce Goldstein, the executive director of the Washington-based Farmworker Justice, rejected the Arizona legislation.

"It makes no sense to have each state set its own program. It's unworkable," he said.

A spokesman for Gov. Janet Napolitano had no immediate comment on the bills Friday. Supporters of the bills plan to discuss the proposed legislation Monday.

Reach the reporter at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493.