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the confirmation mechanism registers no
nonresponses and qualify for the defense.
‘‘(ii) FAILURE TO OBTAIN CONFIRMATION.—
If the person or entity has made the inquiry de-
scribed in clause (i)(I) but has not received an
appropriate confirmation of such identity, num-
ber, and work eligibility under such mechanism
within the time period specified under subsection
(b)(6)(D)(iii) after the time the confirmation in-
quiry was received, the defense under subpara-
graph (A) shall not be considered to apply with
respect to any employment after the end of such
time period.’’;
(2) by amending paragraph (3) of subsection (b)
to read as follows:
‘‘(3) RETENTION
OF
VERIFICATION
FORM
AND
CONFIRMATION.—After completion of such form in ac-
cordance with paragraphs (1) and (2), the person or
entity must—
‘‘(A) retain the form and make it available
for inspection by officers of the Service, the Spe-
cial Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair
Employment Practices, or the Department of
Labor during a period beginning on the date of
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the hiring, recruiting, or referral of the individ-
ual and ending—
‘‘(i) in the case of the recruiting or re-
ferral for a fee (without hiring) of an indi-
vidual, three years after the date of the re-
cruiting or referral, and
‘‘(ii) in the case of the hiring of an in-
dividual—
‘‘(I) three years after the date of
such hiring, or
‘‘(II) one year after the date the
individual’s employment is terminated,
whichever is later; and
‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (7), if the person
employs more than 3 employees, seek to have
(within 3 working days of the date of hiring)
and have (within the time period specified under
paragraph (6)(D)(iii)) the identity, social secu-
rity number, and work eligibility of the individ-
ual confirmed in accordance with the procedures
established under paragraph (6), except that if
the person or entity in good faith attempts to
make an inquiry in accordance with the proce-
dures established under paragraph (6) during
such 3 working days in order to fulfill the re-
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quirements under this subparagraph, and the
confirmation mechanism has registered that not
all inquiries were responded to during such time,
the person or entity shall make an inquiry in the
first subsequent working day in which the con-
firmation 
mechanism 
registers 
no
nonresponses.’’; and
(3) by adding at the end of subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new paragraphs:
‘‘(6) EMPLOYMENT
ELIGIBILITY
CONFIRMATION
PROCESS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph
(7), the Attorney General shall establish a con-
firmation mechanism through which the Attor-
ney General (or a designee of the Attorney Gen-
eral which may include a nongovernmental en-
tity)—
‘‘(i) responds to inquiries by employ-
ers, made through a toll-free telephone line
or other electronic media in the form of an
appropriate confirmation code or otherwise,
on whether an individual is authorized to
be employed by that employer, and
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‘‘(ii) maintains a record that such an
inquiry was made and the confirmation
provided (or not provided).
‘‘(B) EXPEDITED PROCEDURE IN CASE OF
NO
CONFIRMATION.—In connection with sub-
paragraph (A), the Attorney General shall estab-
lish, in consultation with the Commissioner of
Social Security and the Commissioner of the
Service, expedited procedures that shall be used
to confirm the validity of information used
under the confirmation mechanism in cases in
which the confirmation is sought but is not pro-
vided through the confirmation mechanism.
‘‘(C) DESIGN AND OPERATION OF MECHA-
NISM.—The confirmation mechanism shall be de-
signed and operated—
‘‘(i) to maximize the reliability of the
confirmation process, and the ease of use by
employers, recruiters, and referrers, consist-
ent with insulating and protecting the pri-
vacy and security of the underlying infor-
mation, and
‘‘(ii) to respond to all inquiries made
by employers on whether individuals are
authorized to be employed by those employ-
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ers, recruiters, or referrers registering all
times when such response is not possible.
‘‘(D) CONFIRMATION PROCESS.—(i) As part
of the confirmation mechanism, the Commis-
sioner of Social Security shall establish a reli-
able, secure method, which within the time pe-
riod specified under clause (iii), compares the
name and social security account number pro-
vided against such information maintained by
the Commissioner in order to confirm (or not
confirm) the validity of the information provided
and whether the individual has presented a so-
cial security account number that is not valid
for employment. The Commissioner shall not dis-
close or release social security information.
‘‘(ii) As part of the confirmation mecha-
nism, the Commissioner of the Service shall es-
tablish a reliable, secure method, which, within
the time period specified under clause (iii), com-
pares the name and alien identification number
(if any) provided against such information
maintained by the Commissioner in order to
confirm (or not confirm) the validity of the in-
formation provided and whether the alien is au-
thorized to be employed in the United States.
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‘‘(iii) For purposes of this section, the At-
torney General (or a designee of the Attorney
General) shall provide through the confirmation
mechanism 
confirmation 
or 
a 
tentative
nonconfirmation of an individual’s employment
eligibility within 3 working days of the initial
inquiry. In cases of tentative nonconfirmation,
the Attorney General shall specify, in consulta-
tion with the Commissioner of Social Security
and the Commissioner of the Service, an expe-
dited time period not to exceed 10 working days
within which final confirmation or denial must
be provided through the confirmation mechanism
in accordance with the procedures under sub-
paragraph (B).
‘‘(iv) The Commissioners shall update their
information in a manner that promotes the max-
imum accuracy and shall provide a process for
the prompt correction of erroneous information.
‘‘(E) PROTECTIONS.—(i) In no case shall
an individual be denied employment because of
inaccurate or inaccessible data under the con-
firmation mechanism.
‘‘(ii) The Attorney General shall assure that
there is a timely and accessible process to chal-
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lenge nonconfirmations made through the mecha-
nism.
‘‘(iii) If an individual would not have been
dismissed from a job but for an error of the con-
firmation mechanism, the individual will be en-
titled to compensation through the mechanism of
the Federal Tort Claims Act.
‘‘(F) TESTER
PROGRAM.—As part of the
confirmation mechanism, the Attorney General
shall implement a program of testers and inves-
tigative activities (similar to testing and other
investigative activities assisted under the fair
housing initiatives program under section 561 of
the Housing and Community Development Act of
1987 to enforce rights under the Fair Housing
Act) in order to monitor and prevent unlawful
discrimination under the mechanism.
‘‘(G) PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY FOR AC-
TIONS TAKEN ON THE BASIS OF INFORMATION
PROVIDED
BY
THE
EMPLOYMENT
ELIGIBILITY
CONFIRMATION MECHANISM.—No person shall be
civilly or criminally liable for any action taken
in good faith reliance on information provided
through the employment eligibility confirmation
mechanism established under this paragraph (in-
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cluding any pilot program established under
paragraph (7)).
‘‘(7) APPLICATION
OF
CONFIRMATION
MECHA-
NISM THROUGH PILOT PROJECTS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subsection (a)(3)(B)
and paragraph (3) shall only apply to individ-
uals hired if they are covered under a pilot
project established under this paragraph.
‘‘(B) UNDERTAKING PILOT PROJECTS.—For
purposes of this paragraph, the Attorney General
shall undertake pilot projects for all employers in
at least 5 of the 7 States with the highest esti-
mated population of unauthorized aliens, in
order to test and assure that the confirmation
mechanism described in paragraph (6) is reliable
and easy to use. Such projects shall be initiated
not later than 6 months after the date of the en-
actment of this paragraph. The Attorney Gen-
eral, however, shall not establish such mechanism
in other States unless Congress so provides by
law. The pilot projects shall terminate on such
dates, not later than October 1, 1999, as the At-
torney General determines. At least one such
pilot project shall be carried out through a non-
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governmental entity as the confirmation mecha-
nism.
‘‘(C) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall
submit to the Congress annual reports in 1997,
1998, and 1999 on the development and imple-
mentation of the confirmation mechanism under
this paragraph. Such reports may include an
analysis of whether the mechanism imple-
mented—
‘‘(i) is reliable and easy to use;
‘‘(ii) limits job losses due to inaccurate
or unavailable data to less than 1 percent;
‘‘(iii) increases or decreases discrimi-
nation;
‘‘(iv) protects individual privacy with
appropriate policy and technological mecha-
nisms; and
‘‘(v) burdens individual employers
with costs or additional administrative re-
quirements.’’.
(c) REDUCTION OF PAPERWORK FOR CERTAIN EM-
PLOYEES.—Section 274A(a) (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)) is amend-
ed by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
‘‘(6) TREATMENT OF DOCUMENTATION FOR CER-
TAIN EMPLOYEES.—
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para-
graphs (1)(B) and (3), if—
‘‘(i) an individual is a member of a
collective-bargaining unit and is employed,
under a collective bargaining agreement en-
tered into between one or more employee or-
ganizations and an association of two or
more employers, by an employer that is a
member of such association, and
‘‘(ii) within the period specified in
subparagraph (B), another employer that is
a member of the association (or an agent of
such association on behalf of the employer)
has complied with the requirements of sub-
section (b) with respect to the employment
of the individual,
the subsequent employer shall be deemed to have
complied with the requirements of subsection (b)
with respect to the hiring of the employee and
shall not be liable for civil penalties described in
subsection (e)(5).
‘‘(B) PERIOD.—The period described in this
subparagraph is—
‘‘(i) up to 5 years in the case of an in-
dividual who has presented documentation
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identifying the individual as a national of
the United States or as an alien lawfully
admitted for permanent residence; or
‘‘(ii) up to 3 years (or, if less, the pe-
riod of time that the individual is author-
ized to be employed in the United States) in
the case of another individual.
‘‘(C) LIABILITY.—
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—If any employer
that is a member of an association hires for
employment in the United States an indi-
vidual and relies upon the provisions of
subparagraph (A) to comply with the re-
quirements of subsection (b) and the indi-
vidual is an unauthorized alien, then for
the purposes of paragraph (1)(A), subject to
clause (ii), the employer shall be presumed
to have known at the time of hiring or
afterward that the individual was an unau-
thorized alien.
‘‘(ii) REBUTTAL
OF
PRESUMPTION.—
The presumption established by clause (i)
may be rebutted by the employer only
through the presentation of clear and con-
vincing evidence that the employer did not
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know (and could not reasonably have
known) that the individual at the time of
hiring or afterward was an unauthorized
alien.’’.
(d) ELIMINATION
OF DATED PROVISIONS.—Section
274A (8 U.S.C. 1324a) is amended by striking subsections
(i) through (n).
(e) EFFECTIVE DATES.—
(1) Except as provided in this subsection, the
amendments made by this section shall apply with re-
spect to hiring (or recruiting or referring) occurring
on or after such date (not later than 180 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act) as the Attorney
General shall designate.
(2) The amendments made by subsections (a)(1)
and (a)(2) shall apply with respect to the hiring (or
recruiting or referring) occurring on or after such
date (not later than 18 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act) as the Attorney General shall
designate.
(3) The amendment made by subsection (c) shall
apply to individuals hired on or after 60 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
(4) The amendment made by subsection (d) shall
take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.