Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act
Latest action · Feb 26, 2019 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedFeb 26, 2019
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act
This bill expands the E-Verify program by requiring all employers to use it, and permanently reauthorizes the program. Currently, E-Verify use is voluntary for most employers, although some states mandate its use.
All employers shall use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all recruited, referred, or hired individuals, including current employees who were never verified under the program. Failure to use E-Verify shall create a rebuttable presumption that the employer is violating immigration law.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shall generate weekly reports about individuals who have received a final non-confirmation of employment eligibility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall use the report to enforce immigration laws.
DHS shall establish a program to help certain small businesses verify employee eligibility. DHS shall also update E-Verify's design to help prevent and detect fraud and identity theft.
The bill increases civil and criminal penalties for hiring unauthorized aliens. DHS shall debar repeat offenders and those criminally convicted from holding federal contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements.
The Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, and DHS shall jointly establish a program to share information to help identify unauthorized aliens.
The bill establishes the Employer Compliance Inspection Center within Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The center's duties include processing I-9 employment eligibility verification forms and ensuring compliance with employment eligibility laws.
DHS shall report to Congress on ways to simplify procedures relating to I-9 forms, and on whether the I-9 process should be eliminated.
Cosponsors 13
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Feb 26, 2019.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-MS | Cindy Hyde-Smith | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-GA | David Perdue | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-OK | James Lankford | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-OK | James M. Inhofe | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-AR | John Boozman | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-SD | John Thune | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-IA | Joni Ernst | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-TN | Marsha Blackburn | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-WY | Michael B. Enzi | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-UT | Mike Lee | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-MS | Roger F. Wicker | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-WV | Shelley Moore Capito | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
| R-AR | Tom Cotton | Original | Feb 26, 2019 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Feb 26, 2019Introduced in Senate
- Feb 26, 2019Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 1399 | Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act | Identical bill | Apr 8, 2019 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Immigration.
- Border security and unlawful immigration
- Civil actions and liability
- Computer security and identity theft
- Congressional oversight
- Federal preemption
- Foreign labor
- Government information and archives
- Immigration
- Internet and video services
- Internet, web applications, social media
- Public contracts and procurement
- Rural conditions and development
- Small business
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 26, 2019Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.