A bill that this week cleared the state House of Representatives would change the term “illegal alien” to undocumented worker or foreign national in state laws.

And when referring to those people’s mental or physical capacity, the House Bill 1396 would change “defect” to disability.

Rep. Steve Lebsock, a Democrat from Thornton who ushered the bill through the chamber, called the terms “outdated and hurtful language.”

“Aliens are from other planets,” he said. “We should not be referring to human beings as aliens.”

The bill heads from the House, where Democrats have a majority, to the Republican-led state Senate. Twelve of the House’s 31 Republicans voted with Democrats in support of the bill.

Rep. Justin Everett, a Republican from Littleton, was one of those in opposition.

“It’s that PC thing that’s being pushed,” he said, referring to political correctness. “If someone is here illegally and you want to change the name of it sort of justifies it. It sort of gives them an air that they are here legally. We really need to recognize that people are here illegally. Illegal is illegal, any way you slice it.”

The bill would not create a notable expense to change the language of only a few state laws, nonpartisan legislative analysts said.

“The bill creates a very minimal workload impact for state agencies that may have to update contracts, forms and other documents,” their analysis states.

Lebsock said it was a question of propriety and respect.

“I was raised to be polite, and I was raised to be thoughtful,” Lebsock said. “And the least we can do as legislators is to make sure our Colorado laws are thoughtful.”

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch