April 20, 2011
www.gfb.org
Vol. 29 No. 16
IMMIGRATION BILL PASSES GEORGIA LEGISLATURE Both houses of the Georgia General Assembly passed House Bill 87 on the final day of the 2011 Legislative session. The bill includes provisions requiring Georgia employers with 11 or more employees to use the E-Verify program to check work eligibility of employees. Gov. Nathan Deal has indicated he would sign the bill. It sets Jan. 1 as the date of determination on E-Verify requirements. If the employer has 11 or more full-time employees hired as of Jan. 1 each year, in order to obtain a business license that employer will be required to sign a sworn affidavit that E-Verify was used. The bill defines a full-time employee as a person working more than 35 hours per week. For employers with 11 to 99 employees, the effective date of the E-Verify provision is July 1, 2013. For employers with 100-499 employees, the effective date is July 1, 2012. For employers with 500 or more employees, the effective date is Jan. 1, 2012. Unlike earlier versions, the final bill included no provisions for IRS Form 1099 contract labor. Earlier bills would have tied business expense deductibility of 1099 contract labor to the use of E-Verify. The final bill also charged the Georgia Department of Agriculture with developing a report on federal guest worker programs and making recommendations related to those programs. The department is to submit the report on Jan. 1, 2012. During his first monthly press conference on April 18, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black welcomed the chance to conduct a study on use of migrant labor in the state. He said ideally immigration would be tackled at the federal level. “Labor is a huge challenge in agriculture,” Black said. “A documented, legal workforce has always been the goal.” Meanwhile, a U.S. House Judiciary Committee panel held a hearing on the H-2A program on April 13. The Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement received written testimony from American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman, who urged the committee to review and reform the H-2A program, noting that it would give many farmers greater assurance than they currently have that their workers are legally authorized to work in the United States. “There are simply not enough Americans willing to take the jobs of migrant farm workers. In fact, our government’s policy for generations has been to remove Americans from such labor,” said Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), the chairman of the subcommittee.