Immigration-related bills are being introduced at a rapid pace. While many of these bills are destined to languish in committee, the sheer volume of immigration legislation introduced by both parties barely two months into the new Congress increases the chance that at least one bill will eventually receive real consideration. The latest bill – Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification and Illegal Immigration Control Act (H.R. 1096) – would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to create an electronic employment eligibility verification system and a detailed employment verification process, expand the verification system to apply to previously hired individuals, and increase employer penalties for violations, among other things. If passed, this bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to require E-Verify for all employers. The E-Verify system is currently voluntary, unless mandated by applicable state law.

An employer would be able to access the verification system – established and administered by the Department of Homeland Security – via a toll-free phone number or other electronic media. Verification records would need to be kept for a prescribed period of time for all employees hired, recruited or referred. Additionally, employers would need to officially verify the employment eligibility of all hired employees who had not yet been checked. This bill would also limit the types of documents currently acceptable for I-9 purposes, in that employees would be limited to presenting unexpired documents and identity documents would have to contain a photograph. (The current I-9 with revision date June 5, 2007 permits employees to present expired U.S. passports and identity documents and also lists as acceptable certain identity documents that do not contain photographs, such as the voter registration card.) Additionally, employees would be required to provide their Social Security Numbers (provision of the Social Security Number is currently optional). Depending on the type of work the employer is involved in, this process would need to be completed anywhere from three to six years after the date of this bill’s enactment. The civil monetary and criminal penalties for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act are also increased in this bill. There is, however, a mitigation clause for smaller employers, and an exemption from penalties for an initial good faith employer violation. Most of the amendments set forth in this bill would take effect on the date of enactment. Employers would not need to comply with the employment eligibility verification process, however, until at least two years after that date.

This bill was referred to the House Committees on the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor.

Other popular employment-related bills introduced this session include those dealing with healthcare. Last Friday, the No Discrimination in Health Insurance Act of 2009 (H.R. 1092) was introduced. This bill would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act and the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit discrimination in group health coverage and individual health insurance coverage. Specifically, the bill would ban the application of pre-existing condition exclusions in all group health coverage and all individual health insurance policies, and require that premiums and prices be uniform within a specific metropolitan statistical area or other geographic region.

For group policies, the new terms would apply to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2010. Special rules would apply if a collective bargaining agreement is in place. The provisions prohibiting discrimination in individual health insurance policies would apply to health insurance coverage offered, sold, issued, renewed, in effect or operated in the individual market after December 31, 2009.

This bill was referred to the House Committees on Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, and Ways and Means.