<\/p>\n
Bill sponsor Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, said he views it as a way to enforce laws banning employers from hiring workers who don\u2019t have proper documentation.<\/p>\n
A Florida House proposal would require every business in the state \u2014 from small shops to big chains \u2014 to use E-Verify to make sure new hires are authorized to work in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n
E-Verify\u00a0is a federal online platform that allows employers to check workers\u2019 eligibility.<\/p>\n
The legislation,\u00a0 HB 197, passed its first committee on Wednesday on a party line vote. Republican Rep. Berny Jacques from Seminole, a bill sponsor, said he views it as a way to enforce laws banning employers from hiring workers who don\u2019t have proper documentation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have any employees, you have to run them through the system that is highly efficient, that has a low error rate … and it will further strengthen the workforce integrity of our state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jacques sponsored the 2023 legislation creating the current requirement that public employers and private businesses with 25 or more employees use E-Verify.<\/p>\n
The E-Verify system lets employers check the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States.<\/p>\n
He tried to expand E-Verify during the 2025 legislative session too. The measure\u00a0 passed the House\u00a0but died in the Senate.<\/p>\n
House Democrats ques- tioned the accuracy of E-Verify on Wednesday. And they warned of damaging eco- nomic effects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in desperate need of common sense policies that are looking toward more solutions, not creating more burdens for businesses who are facing serious challenges even hiring enough workers right now,\u201d said Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat. \u201cWe know there\u2019s a labor shortage in our state, especially for jobs that a lot of folks don\u2019t want to do the labor for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bill still has a committee stop to go before it reaches the House floor. There is not currently a Senate companion bill, but the 2026 legislative session doesn\u2019t start until January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill sponsor Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, said he views it as a way to enforce laws banning employers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24763,24762,740,1687,28,30,29,2161,24764,99,24766,24765,4571,24767,1328],"class_list":["post-35605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-anna-v-eskamani","tag-e-verify","tag-economy","tag-employment","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-government","tag-labor","tag-politics","tag-politics-of-the-united-states","tag-society-of-the-united-states","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-house-of-representatives","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}