Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / E-Verify Bill is Blatantly Anti-Business

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E-Verify Bill is Blatantly Anti-Business · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: Republicans have long branded themselves as the Party of Business,
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  Speaker 1: especially small business, but a proposal moving through the House
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  Speaker 1: has some employers wondering whether that reputation still fits. House
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  Speaker 1: Bill forty one ninety eight, sponsored by Delegate Elias Coop Gonzalez,
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  Speaker 1: would require private employers to use the federal Everify system.
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  Speaker 1: If you're a covered employer, enrollment isn't optional, it's mandatory.
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  Speaker 1: You must register and maintain an active account. Under the bill,
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  Speaker 1: every new hire works on a provisional basis while their
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  Speaker 1: eligibility is checked. Even if that employee quits or is
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  Speaker 1: terminated within the first three days, the employer still has
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  Speaker 1: to run the verification. If Everify can't confirm authorization, the
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  Speaker 1: employer can't hire or keep the worker. And then there's
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  Speaker 1: the paperwork. Records must be kept for the duration of employment,
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  Speaker 1: or at least three years. Supporters say it strengthens compliance,
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  Speaker 1: but here's what's already true. Federal law requires I nine forms,
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  Speaker 1: and in some cases Everify. There are already fines and
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  Speaker 1: penalties for violations. In fact, this bill originally layered on
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  Speaker 1: additional state finds into the thousands, until delegates learned the
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  Speaker 1: state's legal authority there was limited. During Floria debate, House
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  Speaker 1: Majority Leader Pat McGee and suggested business groups oppose mandates
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  Speaker 1: like this because they benefit from cheap illegal labor. Delegate
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  Speaker 1: David McCormick pushed back, and rightly so broadly accusing the
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  Speaker 1: state's business community of bad faith doesn't foster good policy.
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  Speaker 1: West Virginia businesses higher West Virginians. They pay taxes here,
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  Speaker 1: They keep local economies running. Many are small operators just
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  Speaker 1: trying to meet payroll. No one is arguing employers should
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  Speaker 1: hire unauthorized workers. The question is whether duplicating federal systems
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  Speaker 1: at the state life level actually helps or simply adds
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  Speaker 1: cost and compliance burdens. At some point, this starts to
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  Speaker 1: look less like targeted policy and more like political signaling
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  Speaker 1: on a national issue. And when mandates are written by
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  Speaker 1: folks who've never had to make a payroll, the real
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  Speaker 1: world impact can get overlooked.