E-Verify plan a heavy lift
Guaranteed veto: Don’t send a bill with internet gambling in it, Ron DeSantis warns. That may be a speed bump in any new Seminole Compact.

Ron DeSantis E-Verify
“This will be one I’m not going to quit on.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign vow to require Florida businesses to use federal “E-Verify” checks on the immigration status of new hires remains a tougher lift than his call for a sanctuary-city ban, which is speeding through the Legislature.

But he’s not giving up, even as he blames a lack of unanimity among Republican lawmakers for slowing the red-meat proposal that has been opposed by large farmers and tourism and construction interests.

While saying this week he’d like the proposal to advance this year, he noted he has “four years.”

“We got a lot of irons in the fire this session, we want to deliver on things that we can,” DeSantis told reporters, before adding, “This will be one I’m not going to quit on.”

A House proposal (HB 89) on E-Verify by Rep. Thad Altman, an Indialantic Republican, and a Senate version (SB 164) by Sen. Aaron Bean, a Republican from Fernandina Beach, have not been heard in committees. Bean’s version has been assigned to four committees, rather than the more-standard three, which typically is a sign that leaders aren’t behind the effort.

The proposed change would require private and public employers and state contractors to enroll in E-Verify, a federal database within the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.

DeSantis pointed to the state’s positive job market for the lack of an outside push for E-Verify, while acknowledging the issue is largely political. With the unemployment rate at 3.4 percent, he said E-Verify might not be as high a priority as “when the jobs are scarcer.”

The E-Verify issue has long created fights within the Republican Party. Seeking to crack down on the use of undocumented workers, Gov. Rick Scott’s 2010 campaign platform included calling for all businesses in Florida to use E-Verify.

After pushback from business groups supporting the agriculture industry, Scott signed an executive order shortly after taking office in 2011 that required state agencies under his direction to verify the employment eligibility of all new employees by using E-Verify.

DeSantis last year accused his primary-election opponent, then-Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, of working behind the scenes with agriculture interests to scuttle prior efforts to enact such a law. Putnam said on the campaign trail that Florida employers “need a stable, legal workforce” and that Congress needs to come up with an immigration fix.

___

Republished with permission of the News Service of Florida.

Jim Turner

Jim Turner is a Capitol reporter for the News Service of Florida, providing coverage on issues ranging from transportation and the environment to Legislative and Cabinet politics, which are some of the areas he worked in 20 years with TCPalm in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. Jim grew up in Millburn, New Jersey, where he started his journalism career providing weekly reports on the high school soccer team --- of which he was a member--- to the local Millburn Item. Jim received degrees in journalism and history from High Point University in North Carolina.


One comment

  • Sam

    March 22, 2019 at 9:31 am

    Makes sense that E-Verify is tougher sell than sanctuary cities ban. Sanctuary cities don’t actually exist, but employers who hire illegals do!

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories