down in the surrounding states. so there really wasn't enough evidence to pinpoint the alabama law as being a contributing factor. now you look at these numbers four months later and it really is significant. you have alabama that was at 9.8% in september, all the way down to 8.1%, a 1.7% decline, and you look at the surrounding states, they too have gone down but not nearly as significantly. the alabama law has been called the toughest in the country. it prohibits illegals for looking for jobs in alabama, requires employers tow use the federal e~verify, that is the database that checks immigration status of employees. it also imposes fines and possible loss of business licenses for businesses who do hire illegals. over the course of the past six months we have also seen a number of hispanic businesses in alabama close because they were protesting the alabama law. the governor there, robert bentley gave a statement saying