OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The author of legislation that would give Oklahoma law enforcement officers new tools to identify and detain illegal immigrants said Tuesday it is designed to help preserve state tax dollars.

Rep. George Faught of Muskogee is the author of legislation that incorporates language from an anti-illegal immigration law in Arizona into a measure passed by Oklahoma lawmakers in 2007.

Faught said Tuesday that people who are in the state illegally drive up state expenditures for public safety, education and other costs.

But Pat Fennel of the Latino Community Development Agency in Oklahoma City says undocumented immigrants pay taxes like other residents.

Faught's bill has been approved by the House Judiciary Committee. Among other things, it allows police to question a vehicle's occupants about their immigration status during routine traffic stops.