New Employee Verification Act of 2009

Bill: 111-hr-2028
Sponsor: Rep. Johnson, Sam [R-TX-3]
Introduced: 2009-04-22 in the House
Policy area: Immigration
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Advisory bodies
Border security and unlawful immigration
Civil actions and liability
Computers and information technology
Employment discrimination and employee rights
Foreign labor
Government information and archives
International law and treaties
Judicial review and appeals
Right of privacy
Small business
Social Security Administration
Social security and elderly assistance

Summary:
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: 
New Employee Verification Act of 2009 - Amends the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to extend the employment eligibility confirmation pilot programs (which include the E-Verify basic pilot program). 
 
Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to require employers to verify employee identification and employment eligibility under the Electronic Employment Verification System (EEVS) or the Secure Employment Eligibility Verification System (SEEVS) (as established by this Act).
 
Permits employers subject to employee verification requirements to do so under EEVS or SEEVS.
 
Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) voluntary and expedited participation; (2) employer penalties for failure to participate in EEVS or SEEVS; (3) employer and employee information and document requirements; (4) employer liability protection; (5) attestation; and (6) consequences of EEVS determinations.
 
States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to require a national identification card. 
 
Repeals the employment eligibility pilot programs under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
 
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivor's and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Commissioner of Social Security to establish EEVS utilizing information in the National Directory of New Hires.
 
States that EEVS shall have the capacity to determine whether: (1) employer-submitted information is consistent with information maintained by the Commissioner with respect to U.S. citizens and nationals and by the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to aliens; and (2) the individual is a citizen or national or is not an unauthorized alien. 
 
Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) submission for confirmation of an individual's identification and employment eligibility and related EEVs determinations; (2) administrative and judicial review of employment disapproval; (3) EEVS implementation; and (4) data use by EEVS.
 
Directs the Commissioner to establish SEEVS to provide, through government certified private entities, for verification of identity and employment eligibility respecting new employees 
 
Permits an employer to opt out of SEEVS after one year's participation.
 
Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) certification of entities; (2) database management, including limitations on accessibility and the use and storage of biometric data; (3) employer responsibilities; (4) employee protections; and (5) information security and confidentiality, including penalties for violations.
 
Directs the Commissioner to establish the Employment Verification Advisory Council, which shall terminate five years after enactment of this Act.
 
Amends INA to: (1) apply certain antidiscrimination provisions to EEVS and SEEVS; (2) increase civil money penalties for unfair employment practice violations; (3) increase civil money penalties for certain hiring, recruiting, and referral violations (reduces certain penalties for small employers, exempts certain good faith, first-time violations, and provides a safe harbor for certain contractors); and (4) increase criminal penalties for pattern or practice violations.
 
Amends SSA to: (1) provide for disclosure to the Secretary of Homeland Security of certain National Directory of New Hires information about employees with the greatest number or percentage of mismatched social security information; (2) deny credit toward earnings benefits from unauthorized work; (3) revise totalization agreement provisions; and (4) prohibit survivor's lump sum death payments to individuals who have been removed from the United States under INA.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2009-05-26
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.
action_date: 2009-05-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Referred to House Ways and Means
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Referred to House Rules
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Referred to House Education and Labor
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, Rules, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Referred to House Judiciary
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H4691)
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2009-04-22
text: Introduced in House