Deseret News

Utah Legislature: Senate panel backs E-Verify bill

SALT LAKE CITY — A proposal to require all Utah businesses to verify employees’ legal right to work has earned approval from a Senate committee, but a criminal penalty attached to the mandate will likely be stripped away before it goes before the full Senate.

SB251, sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, would require that all companies in the state utilize federal electronic screening programs to ensure any new hires may work in the country legally. He said the bill will create jobs by forcing undocumented workers elsewhere.

“This bill will give a lot more jobs to our work force because, if a person is here from wherever on Earth … if they can’t get a job because of E-Verify (federal electronic screening system), they’re going to leave the state.”

Buttars constructed the bill so that a business that failed to comply with the requirement would face a variety of penalties, including losing any license issued by the state; being banned from state contracts; and a possible class B misdemeanor, a criminal charge that carries a $1,000 fine and six months in jail…

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