Public Procurement Act; verification of legal presence of contractors for employment. (HB2121)
Introduced By
Del. Paul Nichols (D-Woodbridge)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✗ |
Passed Committee |
☐ |
Passed House |
☐ |
Passed Senate |
☐ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Public Procurement Act; verification of legal presence. Requires all public contractors and their subcontractors to register and participate in a federal Electronic Work Verification Program or similar electronic verification of work authorization program to determine that their employees and individual independent contractors are legally eligible for employment in the United States. Contractors and subcontractors are required to verify the employment status of their employees and independent contractors, and are prohibited from employing or contracting with an individual who is determined not to be legally eligible for employment in the United States as determined through the verification of the individual's status. Contractors who do not register and participate in the registration program are ineligible for prequalification. The measure becomes effective on July 1, 2010. Read the Bill »
Outcome
History
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 01/13/2009 | Committee |
| 01/13/2009 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/14/09 090130654 |
| 01/13/2009 | Referred to Committee on General Laws |
| 01/19/2009 | Assigned GL sub: FOIA |
| 01/27/2009 | Impact statement from DPB (HB2121) |
| 01/29/2009 | Referred from General Laws |
| 01/29/2009 | Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice |
| 02/02/2009 | Assigned Courts sub: Civil |
| 02/02/2009 | Subcommittee recommends referring to Small Business Commission by voice vote |
| 02/10/2009 | Left in Courts of Justice |
Comments
The Society for Human Resources Managers and others agree that the federal E-verify system is not ready for mandatory use by employers. The Society is challenging in court a similar requirement that President Bush sought to impose on federal contractors. Implementation of federal rules has been delayed. The system continues to have a 10% error rate, and it imposes the electronic system on top of the paper system that already exists, thereby, requiring duplicative reporting and record keeping by employers.
This bill would require private companies seeking to do business with state or local government to use the federal e-verify system to check whether their employees are legally eligible for employment. Unfortunately, the e-verify system currently is underfunded and has a 10% error rate. In addition, it isn't a substitute for the current paper driven I-9 process and record keeping requirements. It is in addition to the current system and imposes additional bureaucracy on small businesses that can ill afford the costs of a duplicative and often inaccurate system.The federal government has postponed implementation of everify for federal contractors until at least May 2009. The current law establishing everify as a pilot program is due to expire in March 2009.