To enact sections 4151.01, 4151.02, 4151.03, 4151.04, 4151.05, 4151.06, and 4151.07 of the Revised Code to enact the E-Verify Workforce Integrity Act requiring certain construction industry employers to use E-verify and to sanction specified hiring practices in the industry.
HB246, titled the E-Verify Workforce Integrity Act, would require nonresidential construction contractors, subcontractors, and labor brokers to verify the employment eligibility of workers through the federal E-Verify system. The bill applies to workers on nonresidential construction projects, defined to include buildings, highways, bridges, utilities, and related infrastructure, while excluding residential buildings, manufactured homes, mobile homes, and certain agricultural structures. Employers would have to keep verification records for a specified period and could not continue employing a worker after receiving a final nonconfirmation from E-Verify.
The bill also creates a complaint and enforcement process centered in the attorney general’s office. The attorney general would investigate alleged violations, issue corrective orders, and impose escalating civil fines for failures to use E-Verify or for continuing to employ an unauthorized worker. If violations are not corrected, the attorney general could bring a civil action, and a court could impose additional penalties, bar the employer from bidding on state contracts for two years, and, for knowing employment of an unauthorized alien, require permanent revocation of relevant licenses. The bill also directs state agencies and political subdivisions to include E-Verify compliance provisions in construction contracts and penalizes failures to do so.
The bill’s impact on state law would be to add a new chapter of the Revised Code governing immigration-related hiring practices in the nonresidential construction industry. It would expand state oversight of contractor hiring, create a new enforcement fund, authorize the attorney general and courts to impose monetary penalties and contract debarment, and require licensing agencies to revoke licenses in certain cases. It would also affect public contracting by conditioning state and local construction contracts on compliance language tied to E-Verify.
Overall sentiment in the recorded vote history appears strongly supportive and noncontroversial, with unanimous favorable passage in both the House and Senate committee and unanimous passage on the floor in both chambers. No committee transcripts were provided, so there is no recorded debate to indicate opposition or reservations in the available materials.
The main points of contention inherent in the bill are likely to involve immigration enforcement, employer compliance burdens, and the scope of penalties, especially the use of license revocation, state-contract ineligibility, and fines for public entities that fail to include required contract provisions. The bill also includes safeguards against complaints based solely on race, color, or national origin, and exempts isolated technical errors or E-Verify malfunctions from enforcement, suggesting an effort to address concerns about misuse and administrative error.
HB246 would create new Ohio Revised Code provisions requiring E-Verify use by nonresidential construction contractors, subcontractors, and labor brokers, and would establish civil penalties, contract debarment, and potential license revocation for certain violations. It would also require state agencies and political subdivisions to include E-Verify compliance clauses in nonresidential construction contracts and would create the E-Verify enforcement fund to support administration and enforcement by the attorney general.
The available voting record shows unanimous support at every recorded stage, including favorable committee votes and unanimous passage in both chambers. With no committee transcripts available, the record suggests the bill was broadly accepted and not the subject of visible partisan division in the materials provided.
The bill’s likely areas of contention are its immigration-enforcement approach, the administrative burden placed on construction employers, and the severity of penalties, including fines, state-contract ineligibility, and permanent license revocation for knowingly employing an unauthorized alien. Another possible concern is the bill’s complaint-driven enforcement structure, though it attempts to limit abuse by barring investigations based solely on race, color, or national origin and by exempting isolated technical errors or E-Verify malfunctions.