I am very concerned about AB 1288, a bill that would prohibit E-Verify mandates on government contractors and preempt the ability of local governments to mandate E-Verify for other businesses. We should encourage businesses to use E-Verify, not prohibit them from doing so. Please veto AB 1288.
Proponents of AB 1288 claim that use of employment verifications systems like E-Verify should be curtailed because they do not give qualified workers an opportunity to prove work eligibility. That is false. The great thing about E-Verify is that nobody is automatically ruled out for work authorization. Everybody has a chance and ample time to prove they are eligible for employment. If a person is not work authorized, it’s not discrimination if you don’t continue to employ them. That’s complying with the law. Moreover, E-Verify provides a sound basis for eliminating hiring discrimination because all new hires must be checked.
I can’t understand why the legislature is taking California down the exact opposite path as the federal government on employment verification. The Obama Administration clearly recognizes that citizens and legal residents should not have to compete with illegal aliens for government contractor jobs because it just REQUIRED federal contractors to use E-Verify. Going a step further, the U.S. Senate recently took initial steps to allow current E-Verify users to run workplace eligibility checks on existing employees, not just new hires. You must do everything possible to protect legal unemployed workers in this recession. AB 1288 would facilitate the continued hiring of illegal aliens by unscrupulous businesses. Please veto AB 2076.
Phone me if you would like to talk about this,
Mr. Greg Raven
P.S. We must do everything we can to get California back on track.
