New Illegal Immigration Reform Act Requirements Took Effect Jan 1

Two new immigration requirements took effect on January 1st as a result of the passage of HB 87 during the 2011 legislative session.

The first requirement calls for any person seeking a public benefit through the county to present a secure and verifiable document. It further requires anyone who is required to present identification to the county for any official purpose to present a secure and verifiable document.

A list of acceptable secure and verifiable documents is provided on the Attorney General’s website. This means that anyone who applies for a public benefit through a county must now not only submit a SAVE affidavit, but they must also present a secure and verifiable document. Although counties may accept affidavits in person, electronically or by mail, secure and verifiable documents can only be submitted in person or electronically and cannot be accepted by mail.

The second requirement calls for private employers with 500 or more employees seeking an occupation tax certificate (business license) or any other document required to operate a business with the county to register for and use E-Verify and to sign an E-Verify affidavit. This requirement is completely separate from the public contractor E-Verify affidavit. The private employer requirement will be phased in through July 1, 2013.  Private employers with more than 100 employees must be registered beginning on July 1, 2012 and employers with more than 10 employees must be registered beginning on July 1, 2013. Private employers that are not subject to this requirement must sign an exemption affidavit.

The exemption affidavit and the private employer affidavit can be found on the Attorney General’s website.  ACCG and GMA have also created a combined affidavit that may be easier to use, which is on our respective websites. It is strongly recommended that you consult with your county attorney prior to using these affidavits. The information collected in these affidavits will be included in a report due to the Department of Audits and Accounts on December 31, 2012 and by that date for each subsequent year. This annual report will include each license or certificate issued by the county in the previous 12 months including the name of the person and business issued a license or other document and their E-Verify number as provided in the Private Employer E-Verify Affidavit. This report is separate from the E-Verify Contractor Report that must also be submitted to the Department of Audits and Accounts annually on that date.

For more information on illegal immigration reform requirements, please visit the ACCG website.
If you have questions about these requirements, please contact your county attorney.  

 

ACCG
http://www.accg.org/