Two Pennsylvania state lawmakers indicated this week they’re authoring legislation to enhance the effectiveness of a web-based system used to confirm workers’ legal U.S. residency.
In 1996, the federal government established the E-Verify system as a voluntary five-state pilot program to ease employers’ ability to check the immigration statuses of their new hires. It was expanded for use in all 50 states in 2003 and is administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2012, then-Governor Tom Corbett (R) signed the Public Works Employment Verification Act to mandate the program’s use on all public construction projects in the Keystone State. Seven years later, Pennsylvania lawmakers required that all construction companies utilize E-Verify.
State Senators Devlin Robinson (R-Pittsburgh) and Chris Gebhard (R-Lebanon) have observed that the law regarding publicly funded contractors has seen “inconsistent, and often futile, enforcement.” They cite a complaint issued by the Laborers’ International Union of North America asserting that more than 200 public-building contractors had failed to register to use E-Verify. Audits of approximately 30 of these contractors have entailed nothing more than nominal fines of no more than $250 each, according to the lawmakers.
Maximal penalties that could apply under the 2012 law include 30 days debarment from public work for a second violation and 180 days debarment for a third violation. Cases of “willful violation” could theoretically lead to a company’s debarment for three years. The maximum fine that can be applied for a violation is $1,000.
The measure that Robinson and Gebhard are drafting would require construction companies to enroll in E-Verify upfront and would more stringently penalize those that do not comply. The senators also would like to increase funding for the Department of General Services to aid enforcement.
“We hope that our legislation will help to level the playing field for contractors who follow our state laws and guarantee that only workers who are legally authorized to work in the United States are employed on public construction jobs,” Robinson and Gebhard wrote in a memorandum on their bill.
The federal verification tool has been controversial among labor interest groups. The Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council has supported E-Verify’s use in the state, though other unions such as the Service Employees International Union and the Labor Council of Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) have opposed it.
According to the D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, E-Verify has a 98-percent success rate for determining workers’ immigration statuses. Most American employers are, however, still not mandated to use the system. U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Rob Portman (R-OH) have introduced a measure for phasing in such a requirement while also increasing the federal minimum wage, but that bill hasn’t yet received a vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
