Senators passed legislation to have West Virginia employers confirm a new hire’s eligibility to work in the United States, but the House of Delegates would have needed to agree to changes and ran out of time.
House Bill 4198, also known as the E-Verify Safe Harbor Act, mandates that employers in the state use the federal E-Verify system to confirm the legal work authorization of new employees.
“E-Verify is just a tool. There’s nothing really new here,” said Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, speaking in favor of the bill.
The Senate passed the legislation on a 30-3 vote, with Republican Eric Tarr and Democrats Mike Woelfel and Joey Garcia voting against it.
The next destination was the House of Delegates, but members there were busy dealing with other matters so the legislation hit the midnight deadline without completion.
With only a little more than an hour to the session’s midnight deadline, debate was cut off several times, with Tarr protesting it.
Senators did discuss several amendments on Saturday night that were essentially different versions of the bill. Senators wound up voting for a version of the bill that would exempt private employers.
Under the policy, employers including state agencies and political subdivisions would have to register and create an E-Verify account. Employers are required to verify a new employee’s authorization to work after hiring.
Last month, the House of Delegates had a marathon debate over the E-Verify bill before narrowly passing it, 48 to 46, with some members of the Republican supermajority accusing others of being soft on illegal immigration.
In the Senate, the debate had been over whether the bill imposes burdensome requirements on small businesses with strict penalties for noncompliance.
Some senators questioned the way the bill was structured and whether it could hold up. That was a major aspect of Tarr’s concerns with the policy.