Rep. Bobby Scott Questions E-Verify Mandate Efficacy and Impact on Small Businesses

E-Verify Mandate Support and Recommendations

• 💡 Miss Andress stated that her organization supports the E-Verify system and recommendations to improve its accuracy and efficacy.
• ⚠️ However, she did not explicitly commit to supporting a mandate if these recommendations are not implemented first.

Small Business Readiness for E-Verify

• 🎯 Mr. Gabulis indicated that small businesses are generally not ready for E-Verify, with many not currently using it.
• 📉 In Utah, the threshold for mandatory E-Verify was raised from 15 to 150 employees, meaning most small businesses are exempt.
• ❓ Small businesses currently verify documentation status without E-Verify, though the exact method for determining documented status was not detailed.

Impact of E-Verify Mandates on the Informal Economy

• 📈 Miss Jinx suggested that a mandate could make it easier for law enforcement to target individuals working off the books.
• 💸 In Arizona, a statewide E-Verify mandate led to workers moving into the informal economy, resulting in a 13% drop in state income tax collection while sales tax only fell by 2.5%.
• 📉 This indicates workers remained employed and spending but were no longer paying income taxes.

E-Verify Error Rates and False Positives

• 📊 Based on 2009 data, the error rate for tentative non-confirmations (TNCs) was 0.3%.
• ⚠️ While seemingly low, this represented approximately 200,000 individuals who were authorized to work but flagged as not.
• 🔍 Current public data on the error rate is not available.