Senate Bill 40, described as an enforcement measure to address illegal immigration in Georgia, passed the state Senate Monday. If we are lucky, that will be the last we hear of this bill.

As an American who has been studying our illegal immigration crisis for a decade, let me just say that SB 40 was the most poorly written, contradictory, unworkable piece of legislation I have ever seen make its way to the Senate floor. But I have only been going to the Georgia Capitol for eight years.

The good news is that House Bill 87, the most potentially effective and well-written state illegal immigration and employment enforcement bill in the nation, has passed the House 113-56. "Kill HB 87 and 'NO' TO E-VERIFY" faxes from the business community started coming in to the Capitol about 20 minutes later.

The heart of HB 87 is the requirement that all Georgia employers with more than four employees swear to use the no-cost federal E-verify program.

The long line of Republicans from all over Georgia rising to speak in favor of the bill during the House debate included the Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Rep. Tom McCall. He reminded other members of the House of their oath of office to uphold the law and added that "this bill is the right thing to do."

Ramsey proudly recounts the debate: "We got every single South Georgia Republican with the exception of one. Supporter Rep. Greg Morris, who represents Vidalia Onion country, said, "I regret this bill is necessary, but it is!" Rep. Jay Roberts, a farmer and E-Verify user, supported the bill.

Ramsey beams when he reports that four Democrats voted for his well-thought out Georgia enforcement bill.

Some facts on the E-verify system: Georgia has had an E-Verify law since 2006. All public employers and their contractors are already required to use the system. HB 87 would only expand that common sense rule to private employers with more than four workers.

In doing so Georgia would catch up with four other states: Utah, Arizona, South Carolina and Mississippi.

The current federally required "I-9" paper-based system of collecting documents from employees does not require a Social Security Number. E-Verify does. With E-Verify use, all newly hired employees, including seasonal, temporary and rehires, must actually have a SSN. That is not handy for employers of illegals. More than 243,000 conscientious employers representing more than 834,000 worksites currently use E-Verify and an average of 1,400 new employers enroll each week because the system is accurate and dependable.

An employer who verifies newly hired employees' work authorization under E-Verify has established a presumption that it has not knowingly hired an unauthorized alien.

A list provided by DHS as of September shows that about 16,000 Georgia employers are already using E-Verify voluntarily.

Another more recent list from January of this year only includes Georgia businesses with five or more employees. There are more than 11,000 employers listed - showing that about 5,000 very small businesses are also using E-Verify because they want to avoid hiring black-market labor.

Georgia businesses already using E-Verify voluntarily include: Frito-Lay, Dunkin Donuts, Chick-fil-a, Baskin Robbins, Pepsi-Co.-Gatorade, Hispanic Golden Arches, Con Agra, Fieldale Farms, Pilgrim Pride Inc., Gold Kist, Tyson Foods, Claxton Poultry, Tip Top Poultry, Vidalia Onion Farm ,Turf Pride, Bland Farms, Glennville, Ga., Tifton Turf Farms and Georgia Power.

The E-Verify automatic photo-matching feature that occurs automatically when an employee presents a Permanent Resident Card (Green Card) or an Employment Authorization Document (work visa) as documentation is treated as a closely guarded secret by many arrogant media types and by Libertarians - the same characters who continue to struggle to keep secret the fact that our agriculture industry has access to an unlimited supply of legal foreign workers under the H2A visa. The E-Verify system instantly clears H2A workers when they are hired.

There will be a few Republican state Senators who will vote with the Democrats against HB 87. They will all be voting from the left of President Barack Obama, whose administration has repeatedly made clear its commitment to the E-Verify system as "the right investment in building a viable tool to ensure a legal workforce in the United States."

One can only hope that readers will regard this legislation with the same fervor as SPLOST. Si?

D.A. King of east Cobb is president of the Cobb-based Dustin Inman Society and a nationally recognized authority on illegal immigration.