The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently testified against a bill that would make all employers use the burdensome federal system known as E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of new hires.
This week, the Senate Emerging Issues Committee heard testimony on HB 188, sponsored by Rep. Jim Murphy (R-St. Louis), which was passed by the House. The legislation has been named a top job-killing business mandate by the Missouri Chamber.
Currently, private employers are not required to use the system, but they can be penalized for knowingly hiring an unauthorized individual.
Phillip Arnzen, director of legislative affairs for the Missouri Chamber, said while many employers already choose to use the E-Verify system, businesses should be allowed to decide whether or not they want to use this method to verify their employees’ eligibility.
“We have concerns that this will put new requirements on small businesses,” Arnzen said. “A burden will be created for the small businesses that don’t have a large administrative staff.”
In addition to the new administrative burden, Arnzen said another concern is a provision requiring businesses to submit legal immigrant employees’ information to a Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations database that would be created by this bill.
“That’s another mandate they’ll have to go through. They’re going to have use another government database, one that doesn’t currently exist, so they’ll have to learn how to navigate through that,” Arnzen said. “Additionally, there are a lot of people who come from outside of this country, legally, to work in Missouri, and they might be hesitant to put their name in a government database.”
For more information, contact Arnzen at parnzen@mochamber.com or call 573-634-3511.
