(The Center Square) – The two largest red states whose Republican-controlled legislatures have convened at the same time have had different results so far on similarly proposed legislation. From property tax relief to school choice to border security, similar bills that have faltered in Texas have passed in Florida, which now may include E-Verify.
In the Texas Senate, Sen. Louis Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, filed SB 1621, which passed out of the Senate Business & Commerce Committee two weeks ago, but hasn’t been scheduled for a full vote. Its companion bill, HB 3846, filed by Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, was assigned to the House State Affairs Committee but went nowhere.
The companion bills would require local governments, state contractors and private employers in Texas to participate in E-Verify, a federal system to ensure workers are legally authorized to work in the U.S. Texas state agencies have been required to use E-Verify since 2015. However, no Texas law requires private companies to comply with E-Verify.
Critics argue special interest groups and lobbyists representing some employers who oppose stronger employment verification laws are exploiting illegal foreign nationals by paying them lower wages or are unintentionally or intentionally participating in forced labor and human trafficking.
The Florida legislature passed a bill, SB 1718, to address these concerns and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law May 10. The bill enhances human smuggling penalties and imposes penalties on private employers who don’t comply with the law, among other measures.
It requires private employers with 25 or more employees to use the E-Verify system for new employees and amends penalties for noncompliance. Penalties include a daily fine of $1,000 and, after multiple findings of noncompliance, the suspension of a business’s license, according to the bill summary.
The law creates penalties for employers “who knowingly employ unauthorized aliens, effective July 1, 2024, including quarterly reporting and the suspension or revocation of employer licenses in certain circumstances” and creates a third degree felony “for an unauthorized alien to knowingly use a false identification document or who fraudulently uses an identification document of another person, to obtain employment.”
DeSantis signed the bill into law after Florida earlier this year cracked down on companies that weren’t in compliance with E-Verify.
The new law also imposes other requirements unrelated to E-Verify.
It prohibits a county or municipality “from providing funds to any person, entity, or organization for the purpose of issuing an identification card or other document to an individual who does not provide proof of lawful presence in the United States.”
It also prohibits illegal foreign nationals from driving in Florida and revokes their out of state licenses if their license was “issued by another state which exclusively provides such a license to undocumented immigrants who are unable to prove lawful presence in the United States when the licenses are issued,” among other provisions.
It repeals the statute that allows applicants to the Florida Bar “who are unauthorized immigrants to be admitted to the Bar by the Florida Supreme Court if certain conditions are met effective November 1, 2028.”
It also requires any Florida hospital accepting Medicaid to include a question on its admission or registration forms asking patients if they are U.S. citizens and if they are lawfully or unlawfully present in the U.S. Florida hospitals are also required to provide quarterly reports to the Agency for Health Care Administration detailing the number of emergency department visits or hospital admissions by patients who responded to the question.
The law follows a directive from the governor, which found that taxpayers spent nearly $340 million on illegal foreign nationals admitted to Florida hospitals in fiscal 2021, and $312 million in fiscal 2020.
This article First appeared in the center square