Legal Workforce Act
Latest action. Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the yeas and naysThe constitutional right of one-fifth of those present to force every member's vote onto the public record. The mechanism behind every roll call you can look up.Read the full definition (opens a new tab): 20 - 10.
Legal Workforce Act
This bill amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish an employment eligibility verification system (EEVS), patterned after the E-Verify system.
An employer shall attest, during the verification period and under penalty of perjury, that the employer has verified that an individual is not an unauthorized alien.
An individual shall attest that he or she is a U.S. citizen or national, a lawful permanent resident, or an alien authorized to work in the United States.
The bill establishes a phased-in EEVS participation deadline for different categories of employers, including agricultural employers.
The bill requires reverification of certain groups of workers who have not been verified under E-verify.
An employer may voluntarily reverify employees.
Employment recruitment and referral are included within the scope of EEVS.
The bill sets forth provisions regarding: (1) an employer utilizing a good faith defense, (2) preemption of state or local law, (3) employer penalties, and (4) worker remedies for EEVS errors.
DHS shall establish programs to: (1) block the use of misused social security numbers, (2) suspend or limit the use of social security account numbers of identity fraud victims, and (3) permit parents or legal guardians to suspend or limit the use of a minor's social security account number or other identifying information.
DHS shall establish at least two Identity Authentication Employment Eligibility Verification pilot programs using distinct technologies to provide employers with identity authentication and employment verification of enrolled new employees.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on September 8, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 20 - 10.
Civibrief does not map this action to a stage in the process. See the official record.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
The latest action on file does not map to a stage Civibrief recognizes, so the page will not name one. The record's own words are the reliable fact here.
The record's latest action, on October 25, 2017: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 20 - 10.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
LAMAR SMITH (R-TX) introduced it on September 8, 2017, and 54 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 54 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 8, 2017, 3289 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3242 days ago, on October 25, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseOrdered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 20 - 10.
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action