[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 137 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 137

 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 6, 2009

 Mr. Gallegly (for himself, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. McCaul, 
 and Mr. Bilbray) 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.
                                 <all>