Florida Legislature votes to send weakened E-Verify bill to DeSantis
A bill that would require employers to verify new hires’ immigration status passed the Senate Thursday night, sending Gov. Ron DeSantis a fairly dialed-back version of a legislative priority and key 2018 campaign promise.
The Senate passed SB 664 23-17, along party lines.
In typical end-of-session fashion, the bill has bounced back and forth between the Florida Senate and the House, which stripped Sen. Tom Lee’s bill language of much of its enforcement “teeth.”
Lee, who had already “watered down” his bill to please the House, he said, had included a provision that allows the state to randomly audit businesses that opt out of using the federal system. That provision was stripped out of his bill in the House.
“This has been a long journey,” the Thonotosassa Republican said. “And I appreciated the full-throated support of Governor DeSantis.”
The Senate bill also would have required employers with 50 employees or more to register and use the I-9 system. The bill no longer cuts business off at 50 employees.
SB 664, dubbed the “E-Verify” bill, has been one of the most politically contentious issues this legislative session, which comes amid a 2020 election cycle.
FL Senate OKs ‘compromise’ E-Verify bill
The bill requires that businesses either use E-Verify, a federal program that checks the immigration status of workers, or keep a three-year record of documents used by applicants when filling out a form “I-9,” a federal check on a person’s legal eligibility to work in the U.S.
House Speaker José Oliva has said on various occasions that he was uneasy with the random audits the Senate bill allowed. He even went as far as to say there was “something about that that doesn’t say ‘America.’ ”
Many business groups and immigrants rights advocates have come out against the proposal, saying it would be a major hit to Florida’s top industries that rely heavily on undocumented workers, like tourism and agriculture.
Sen. Joe Gruters, a Sarasota Republican who doubles as the state’s Republican party chair, said while the bill isn’t perfect, “it’s a great start.”
“The bill we passed today is a big win for the base,” he told the Herald/Times after the earlier version of the bill was voted on Monday.
DeSantis, who is behind the legislation, has pressured the Republican-dominated Legislature to send him a bill that would require all public and private employers to register with and use E-Verify, a program that is widely supported by GOP base voters.
