Hearing on mandatory E-Verify for Nebraska businesses draws mixed responses
LINCOLN — Testifiers on Monday were about split for and against a measure that would require some 6,350 Nebraska employers to use an online verifying system to weed out undocumented workers — or face suspension of their business license.
Legislative Bill 532, introduced by State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, would require businesses with at least 25 workers to tap the E-Verify system or a government equivalent that checks an applicant's eligibility to work.
The Nebraska Labor Department says about 6,350 of the state's businesses currently fit that bill. Some already use E-Verify: public contractors and employers that receive tax incentives from the state are mandated; some others use it voluntarily.
Kauth, during a public hearing for her bill before the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee on Monday, said E-Verify should help guarantee Nebraska businesses 'peace of mind and a level playing field.'
'Yes, our jobs need to be filled, but we've got to make sure the people we have here — who are citizens not just of this state but of this country — are able to do those jobs first and foremost,' she said.
Among those who voiced support for the bill was Susan Gumm, who said E-Verify would protect Nebraska workers against unfair job competition and wage depression. 'We are a nation of laws and should have a legal workforce.'
She went on to cite two people whose deaths she asserts 'were entirely preventable since illegal aliens shouldn't even be in the country in the first place and couldn't remain here without jobs.'
The Internet-based E-Verify is set up to compare and match information provided by a job applicant with records available to the Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. One key criticism is that workers using fraudulent or borrowed identities can evade detection.
We want to be sure we don't create problems for business owners who are just struggling to stay afloat in a workforce-tight environment .
– Hunter Traynor, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Dylan Severino of the American Civil Liberties Union, in opposing LB 532, described the system as 'seriously flawed' with a 1.67% mismatch rate last year and mentioned errors that he said could encourage legal discrimination.
He said the 'headache' of a mismatch does not only fall on the employee. Employers are bound by law not to discriminate based on citizenship status or national origin, he said, and need to to carefully resolve mismatches. Severino suggested that might deter employers from taking a chance on hiring someone that might be flagged.
'If you're an employer … and you know that mismatches are usually caused by hyphenated names — common in the Hispanic and Latino culture and transliterated names such as Arabic names — maybe you'll just decide to skip over candidates.'
Kris Bousquet, executive director of the Nebraska State Dairy Association, also spoke in opposition of LB 532 for the Nebraska Farm Bureau, Nebraska Cattlemen's Association, Nebraska Pork Producers and Renewable Fuels Nebraska.
He said employers within the groups want to comply with all laws regarding workplace practices but believe that regulatory authority for the immigration issues should remain at the federal level.
Requiring E-Verify at the state level requires another level of red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy, he said.
Bousquet said many farm and ag jobs, such as milking cows, are 'incredibly demanding tasks.'
'Finding people that are willing and able to perform these jobs is challenging enough, and if those jobs go unfilled our livestock producers are faced with serious production restrictions and animal welfare issues,' Bousquet said.
Hunter Traynor of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry spoke in a neutral capacity, and did so also for groups including the Nebraska New Car & Truck Dealers Association and Nebraska Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association.
But he said that some members use E-Verify and called it 'by no means a fool-proof solution.' Given the potential of losing a business license over a system that 'has not been largely reliable in the past gives us some pause,' Traynor said.
'We want to be sure we don't create problems for business owners who are just struggling to stay afloat in a workforce-tight environment,' he said.
Five people testified in support of the bill Monday; four were opposed; two spoke in a neutral capacity. Of those who submitted written testimony, 25 supported the bill; 22 were opposed and two were neutral.
The committee took no action on whether to advance the bill to full Legislative debate.
Kauth said at least one benefit to mandating E-Verify was that it could provide state officials a better picture of illegal immigration in Nebraska.
Those who suffer the most from undocumented workers, she said, are young people looking for their first job, veterans trying to find a job outside of the military and people leaving the prison system seeking a job.
'If you are getting out of prison and you need a fresh start, what better place than on a ranch or on a farm or somewhere doing something different than you've ever done,' Kauth said. 'Milking a cow might not seem like the worst thing in the world because it is good, honest labor.'
A legislative fiscal analysis shows that implementing the measure would, in the first year, cost the state about $260,000 in new staffing requirements. Under the Kauth proposal:
The Nebraska Department of Labor would develop and carry out random audit inspections and expose violators using a public-facing database.
If the state labor commissioner detects noncompliance, the business has a certain amount of time to contest. Penalties include probation of a business' operating license or, for repeat violations, suspension of the license.
Employers that knowingly employ an unauthorized immigrant worker face suspension of their business license. The license can be reinstated if the employer fires the worker or pays the cost of either the Labor Department's investigation or $1,000.
A business that 'in good faith' uses E-Verify is presumed not to be in violation, subject to rebuttal by evidence. An employer who fires a worker to comply with the statute won't be subject to a civil action for wrongful termination of the employee.
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