[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 138 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 138
To require an employer to take action after receiving official notice
that an individual's Social Security account number does not match the
individual's name, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 4, 2007
Mr. Gallegly introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways
and Means, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require an employer to take action after receiving official notice
that an individual's Social Security account number does not match the
individual's name, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Employment Eligibility Verification
and Anti-Identity Theft Act''.
SEC. 2. REQUIRING AGENCIES TO SEND ``NO-MATCH'' LETTERS.
(a) Social Security Administration.--The Commissioner of the Social
Security Administration shall send a written notice to a person or
entity each time that the combination of name and Social Security
account number submitted by the person or entity for an individual does
not match Social Security Administration records.
(b) Department of Homeland Security.--The Secretary of Homeland
Security shall send a written notice to a person or entity each time
that such Secretary determines that an immigration status document or
employment authorization document presented or referenced by an
individual during the process of completing the attestations required
by the person or entity for employment eligibility verification was
assigned to another person, or that there is no agency record that the
document was assigned to any person.
SEC. 3. REQUIRING EMPLOYERS TO TAKE ACTION UPON RECEIPT OF A ``NO-
MATCH'' LETTER.
Beginning on the date that is 6 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act, a person or entity that has received a written
notice under section 2 shall, within 3 business days of receiving such
notice, verify the individual's employment authorization and identity
through the verification system established under section 4.
SEC. 4. VERIFICATION SYSTEM.
Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the
Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, as appropriate,
shall establish and administer a verification system through which
persons or entities that have received written notice under section 2
shall verify an individual's employment authorization and identity.
SEC. 5. DESIGN AND OPERATION OF SYSTEM.
The verification system established under section 4 shall be
designed and operated--
(1) to maximize its reliability and ease of use, consistent
with insulating and protecting the privacy and security of the
underlying information;
(2) to respond to all required inquiries under this Act
regarding whether individuals are authorized to be employed and
to register all times when such inquiries are not received;
(3) with appropriate administrative, technical, and
physical safeguards to prevent unauthorized disclosure of
personal information; and
(4) to have reasonable safeguards against the system's
resulting in unlawful discriminatory practices based on
national origin or citizenship status, including--
(A) the selective or unauthorized use of the system
to verify eligibility;
(B) the use of the system prior to an offer of
employment; or
(C) the exclusion of certain individuals from
consideration for employment as a result of a perceived
likelihood that additional verification will be
required, beyond what is required for most job
applicants.
SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF TIME.
If a person or entity in good faith attempts to make an inquiry
during the time period specified and the verification system
established under section 4 has registered that not all inquiries were
received during such time, the person or entity may make an inquiry on
the first subsequent working day in which the verification system
registers that it has received all inquiries. If the verification
system cannot receive inquiries at all times during a day, the person
or entity merely has to assert that the entity attempted to make the
inquiry on that day for the previous sentence to apply to such an
inquiry, and does not have to provide any additional proof concerning
such inquiry.
SEC. 7. RETENTION OF PROOF OF VERIFICATION COMPLETION.
After completion of the verification process established under
section 4, a person or entity shall retain a paper, microfiche,
microfilm, or electronic version of the form received through the
verification process (or, in the case of a telephonic verification, a
paper, microfiche, microfilm, or electronic record of the telephonic
verification code number) and make it available for inspection by
officers of the Department of Homeland Security, the Special Counsel
for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices, or the Department
of Labor for 3 years after the date on which the form or telephonic
verification code number was received.
SEC. 8. TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT.
(a) Burden on Individual To Resolve Errors.--If a person or entity
has received an initial nonverification regarding an individual from
the verification system established under section 4, the person or
entity shall notify the individual in writing within 1 business day of
such receipt. In such notice, the person or entity shall advise the
individual that the burden is on the individual to resolve any error in
the verification mechanism not later than 30 days after the date on
which the notice is issued. Such notice shall also state that the
person or entity shall be required to verify once again the
individual's employment authorization and identity through the
verification system established under section 4, and to terminate any
employment in the United States, and any recruitment, hiring, or
referral for employment in the United States, of the individual, if a
final nonverification is received.
(b) Additional Verification.--A person or entity that has issued a
notice under subsection (a) shall, within 33 business days of such
issuance, verify once again the individual's employment authorization
and identity through the verification system established under section
4. Sections 6 and 7 shall apply to such final verification in the same
manner as such sections applied to the initial verification.
SEC. 9. FINAL VERIFICATION.
(a) Within 7 days of receiving final nonverification for an
individual, the person or entity issued a notice under section 8(a) of
this Act shall provide the Commissioner of Social Security with a copy
of such individual's verification form as described in section
274A(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1324a(b)(3)) in addition to any other information regarding the last
known name, address, and location of such individual.
(b) Within 3 business days of receiving such notification, the
Commissioner of Social Security shall provide such information to the
Secretary of Homeland Security.
SEC. 10. EMPLOYER VIOLATIONS.
A person or entity shall be considered to have violated section
274A(a)(1)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1324a(a)(1)(A)) if the person or entity--
(1) continues to employ in the United States, or recruits,
hires, or refers for employment in the United States, an
individual after receiving a final nonverification regarding an
individual from the verification system established under
section 4; or
(2) otherwise fails to take an action required under this
Act.
SEC. 11. REQUIREMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN PILOT PROGRAM.
Section 402(e)(1) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
``(C) Any person or entity that, in a calendar
year, receives written notice under section 2 of this
Act with respect to more than 20 individuals, shall
elect to participate in the basic pilot program
described in section 403(a) and shall comply with the
terms and conditions of such election.''.
SEC. 12. LIMITATION ON USE.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit or allow any
department, bureau, or other agency of the United States Government to
utilize any information, data base, or other records assembled under
this Act for any other purpose other than as provided for under this
Act.
(b) No National Identification Card.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to authorize, directly or indirectly, the issuance or use of
national identification cards or the establishment of a national
identification card.
SEC. 13. FEDERAL TORT CLAIMS ACT REMEDY.
If an individual alleges that the individual would not have been
dismissed from a job but for an error of the verification mechanism,
the individual may seek compensation only through the mechanism of
chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code (popularly known as the
Federal Tort Claims Act), and injunctive relief to correct such error.
No class action may be brought under this Act.
SEC. 14. PROTECTION FROM LIABILITY FOR ACTIONS TAKEN ON THE BASIS OF
INFORMATION.
No person or entity shall be civilly or criminally liable for any
action taken in good faith reliance on information provided through the
employment eligibility verification mechanism established under this
Act.
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