On Monday, New York state Senator Gustavo Rivera and supporters introduced the New York Is Home Act, a bill that would grant state citizenship to an estimated 2.7 million immigrants living in the state.

"With failure at the national level on comprehensive immigration reform, the question we have asked is what can states do?" the democratic Bronx rep said according to Reuters.

The New York Is Home Act was introduced in Battery Park in Manhattan. Under the bill, those who have proof of identity and lived in New York and paid taxes for the past three years will receive state citizenship under the stipulation of obeying the law and serving on a jury, EFE reports.

"We have failed with immigration reform nationally, and what we want is to provide an opportunity for the almost 3 million people who live and contribute to the public treasury in our state to take part in its political, civic and economic life," Rivera told EFE before introducing the bill.

The New York Is Home Act would provide immigrants with a document granting them the right to vote in local (but not federal) elections, run for office, Medicaid, in-state college tuition fees, financial aid and driver's licenses.

"We have a bill here that could be a model of what we need to do across the country," Rivera said according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

Rivera pointed out, however, that the bill "certainly will not pass this session," but he hopes the idea will inspire states like California, Illinois and Texas.

Peter Markowitz, a Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law professor who helped draft the bill, said it follows Supreme Court law recognizing "state citizenship" by "exercising a firmly established, constitutionally enshrined authority of the state to determine the boundaries of its own political community"

"The very nature of our dual-sovereign federal structure means that New York gets to decide who are New Yorkers," he said.

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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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