Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the E Verify Employment Verification topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee declines to advance broad E‑Verify mandate after amendment and close votes
Summary
Senate Bill 196, which would have required E‑Verify for public and private employers and limited tax deductions for wages paid to unauthorized aliens, was considered; a committee amendment removed a private‑employer mandate but a motion to advance the bill failed on a split committee vote.
The Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee considered Senate Bill 196, a proposal to mandate use of the federal E‑Verify system to confirm employment authorization and to deny certain state income tax deductions tied to wages paid to unauthorized workers. After debate and a committee "balloon" amendment that removed a blanket E‑Verify mandate for private employers, the committee voted and the motion to pass the amended bill failed.
Committee staff summarized the original bill as making it unlawful to employ unauthorized aliens and as requiring public employers and every entity to use E‑Verify for new hires after July 1, 2025, with penalties including suspension or revocation of business licenses for violations. Sections 4 and 5 would have disallowed a state income tax deduction for wages paid to employees who were unauthorized aliens in violation of state law and required an affidavit to the Secretary of Revenue.
The balloon amendment that committee staff presented struck the requirement that private businesses must use E‑Verify; it preserved the prohibition on hiring unauthorized aliens and kept the statutory requirement for public employers to use E‑Verify and for public contracts to require E‑Verify enrollment. The amendment also revised the affidavit language in the tax sections to reflect that private businesses would no longer be required to provide an E‑Verify employer identification number.
Senators questioned how the bill would affect public employers that hire contractors (for example, school districts or the Department of Transportation contracting road construction) and whether a private business that provides services to a public employer would have to ensure its subcontractors used E‑Verify. Committee staff explained that public employers entering contracts for services would still have to ensure contractors used E‑Verify for new employees; the affidavit requirement for private entities' tax filings retained an attestation regarding independent contractors, which several senators said could be read to require private firms to confirm their subcontractors were enrolled in E‑Verify.
Following debate and a vote on an amendment proposal that failed on a tie which the chair broke in favor, the committee ultimately voted on a motion to pass the bill as amended. The motion failed on a split recorded count and Senate Bill 196 did not advance out of committee.
