Budget
This week, Governor Perdue issued a finance proposal that would raise $1.6 billion in new revenue. Governor Perdue has proposed a 1 cent increase to the sales tax that would sunset in October 2010. She also included a tax surcharge on single earnings making more than $500,000 and on married couples filing jointly earning more than $1,000,000 per year. Her proposal also includes other tax increases.
This is just one of the proposals currently on the table as the Senate and House continue to negotiate the budget. Right now, the State is operating on a Continuing Resolution that is set to expire July 15. I am hopeful that we will be able to get something worked out by then. I will continue to keep you updated on the Budget negotiations as it develops.
E-Verify
Now that the E-Verify bill I sponsored (Senate Bill 32) has passed Senate Commerce Committee, I have started to receive many questions regarding what exactly E-Verify is and how it works.
History
Under current federal law, it is illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien (8 U.S.C. § 1324a). While it is illegal to hire an illegal alien, the absence of an enforcement mechanism has left states, such as North Carolina, in the position of enforcing those laws. Right now it is estimated that there are 12,000,000 illegal aliens in the United States with more coming everyday, causing the level of concern over the issue to rise.
In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). One program established as part of IIRIRA was Basic Pilot, now E-Verify. Initially, E-Verify was opened up to five states, Texas, California, Illinois, Florida, and New York, the states with the highest immigrant populations. As of 2006, E-Verify has been opened up to all employers for free in all states.
How it works
E-Verify is a free, internet-based employment verification system. Since 1986, all new employees have had to fill out I-9 forms, stating that they are legally eligible to work in the United States. The information from the I-9 forms are then entered into the E-Verification system, which checks the information supplied against information in the Social Security Administration database, Department of Homeland Security database, US Citizenship and Immigration database. If the information matches up, the employee is approved in seconds (96.1% of the time), if not, a temporary non-confirmation (TNC) is issued.
A person can receive a TNC for many reasons. A main reason is that the person is not eligible to be employed in the United States. Other reasons include: the employee has not updated his or her records with the Social Security Administration (e.g. name changes, citizenship status updates), employer made an error inputting information into the system, etc.
Once a person has been issued a TNC, the employer must inform the employee of the TNC. From there, the employee can either chose to contest the TNC or not contest it. If the employee chooses to contest the TNC, he or she must resolve any discrepancy with the appropriate government agency within eight Federal Government workdays.
TNC Case Resolution
While the employee is resolving any errors, he or she must be able to continue to work as if there was no TNC. After the employee resolves any discrepancies, the employer then receives final notification that the employee is either authorized to work, not authorized to work, or instructed to review and update employee data then resubmit.
If an employee chooses to not contest the TNC, then it automatically becomes a final non-confirmation—meaning the employee is not authorized to work.
Employer Obligations
When an employer signs up with the E-Verify system, the employer must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. In the MOU, it outlines that the E-Verify system can only be used to verify new hires and it must be initiated within three days of the employee’s start date. The employer must also apply the E-Verify procedures to all employees regardless of citizenship status. The employer is also required to post a notice, in an area visible to prospective employees, that it is an E-Verify Participant and it also must post and Anti-Discrimination Notice, issued by the Department of Justice.
Benefits of E-Verify
E-Verify has many benefits, both to the employer and employees. The main benefit of E-Verify is that is assures the work eligibility of new hires and maintains employer compliance with Federal law. The E-Verify system helps reduce and stop instances of documentation and identity fraud.
An often over looked employee benefit of E-Verify is the assurance that the employee will receive full work history credit when the employee files for Social Security benefits. It also allows the employee to correct errors in various with various federal agencies that would have otherwise gone unnoticed until retirement, or the denial of other benefits.
Steps taken to improve E-Verify
As of May 2008, the Department of Homeland Security has taken steps to improve the E-Verify system to help cut down on the number of erroneous TNCs. One such improvement was to link the E-Verify system to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services database. This allows the program to check the USCIS database for updates in citizenship before issuing a citizenship status mismatch. DHS has also implemented a new case resolution process that allows employees who have citizenship status mismatches to correct the problem through a toll-free call to the USCIS, instead of having to visit the agency’s office.
In addition, new photo screening technology helps protect employers and employees from document and identity fraud.
DHS is currently working to link E-Verify with passport information to prevent possible TNCs for citizens born outside the United States.
Why E-Verify is good for North Carolina?
North Carolina currently has an unemployment rate of 11.1% and some economists are predicting that it will rise as high as 13% this month. The use of E-Verify is already required for all State agencies and contractors who contract with the State. By extending this requirement to all political subdivisions in the State and to all employers, there will be the assurance that all new hires are legally allowed to work in the United States.
It is patently unfair, especially in the current economic climate, for people who are not legally authorized to work in the United States to have employment while citizens and legal residents are unemployed.
What happens next?
Senate Bill 32 has passed the Senate Commerce Committee and has been serially referred to the Appropriations Committee. I have promised the various stake holders (Chamber of Commerce, Homebuilders Association, NC Listen) that I would meet with them to fix some of the problems the bill currently has so that we have a strong, enforceable law.
Domestic Criminal Trespass
As a retired District Court Judge, I presided over many domestic violence cases and issued many protective orders. These orders are important to protect victims of domestic violence and equally important, protective orders must have the full force of the law behind them. During the 2006-2007 Session, I introduced important legislation to protect victims of domestic violence and to also provide civil protection to safe houses. Earlier this year, Senate Bill 144, which limits the liability of domestic violence shelters, passed the Senate and is currently making its way through the House. Senate Bill 144 was a constituent part of the legislation introduced in 2006.
The other part of the 2006 legislation, Senate Bill 140, which makes it a felony for an individual who is currently the subject of a valid protective order to trespass on the grounds of a safe house that the protected individual lives at, whether or not the protected individual is present at the residence at the time, passed the Senate this week. The bill also makes a murder at a domestic violence shelter by an individual who is subject to a protective order an aggravating circumstance for the death penalty.
Stimulus
It was recently announced that the DOT office in Sylva was recently awarded $460,000 in stimulus money to help promote carpooling in WNC. The money will go toward building a park-and-ride lot and shelter in Haywood County along with improving lots in Jackson, Macon, and Swain Counties that currently serve as unofficial carpooling lots.
Uninsured and Underinsured Auto Insurance
Many of you have written to me to about an increase in your auto insurance that is the result of a new requirement to have extra protection from uninsured and underinsured drivers. These new increases have added as much as $100 to auto insurance premiums. Earlier this session, Senators Clodfelter, Hartsell, and I introduced Senate Bill 749, to remove this excessive requirement.
Senate Bill 749 passed the Senate in May and on Monday of this week, passed the House Committee on Insurance. It is currently in the House Ways and Means Committee and should be getting a hearing soon.