Democratic Assemblyman Tony Mendoza proposed legislation this week that would place an advisory measure on the ballot asking Californians whether the United States should grant longtime illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.

Assembly Bill 78 would apply to undocumented residents who have worked in the United States for at least five years, can speak English, have no felony convictions, and "have paid all taxes for which they are responsible."

Mendoza's bill declares that debate is raging over the nation's "broken immigration system" and that Americans want an overhaul that "rewards work, reunites families, restores the rule of law, reinforces our immigrant workers, and redeems the 'American Dream.'"

The Artesia Democrat hopes to qualify his measure for California's statewide primary election in June 2012.