State Advocacy
State E-Verify Laws Effective January 1 (1/3/12)
On January 1, state laws requiring businesses to enroll in the federal E-Verify program to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States went into effect in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee. The specific requirements vary from state to state. For instance, the Georgia and Tennessee laws initially apply just to employers with 500 or more employees but by January 1, 2013 capture employers with more than 10 employees and six or more employees, respectively. Click here to read more about the Georgia law and here for more information about the Tennessee law. Meanwhile, the South Carolina law requires every employer in the state to use the E-Verify system and those that don't risk losing their licenses to operate. Click here and here to read recent articles from the Charleston Post and Courier and The State about the South Carolina law.
January 1 also marked the effective date for a California law prohibiting local governments from requiring a private employer to use the E-Verify program unless required by federal law or as a condition of receiving federal funds. Click here to access the National Conference of State Legislature's website to read all of the new laws.