Missouri Latest State To Enact E-Verify Requirement
On July 7, 2008, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed a bill, effective January 1, 2009, requiring employers contracting or receiving grants from the state in excess of $5,000 to use E-Verify. Missouri joins a growing number of states that, in the absence of a federal comprehensive immigration reform act, have chosen to regulate the employment of illegal workers. The Missouri bill shares similarities to other bills enacted in states such as: Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Utah. However, this bill goes further by requiring employers with state-administered tax credits, tax abatement, or state-administered loans to also use E-verify. The 
bill also gives Missouri's Attorney General the authority to enforce the act. Missouri's Attorney General may now demand: 1) employers to provide identification information on their employees; 2) employers to provide identification documents within 15 business days of receiving such a request. Failing to abide by the request could result in the suspension of a company's applicable local licenses, permits, and exemptions until the documents are supplied, 3) employers to classify its employees correctly (i.e. knowingly classifying an employee as an independent contractor when he/she is not carries fines ranging from $50 to $50,000.) A contractor will not be liable for the unauthorized employment of an illegal alien if a subcontractor employing the individual provides a sworn affidavit that the employee is authorized to work in the US. Missouri's law does not substitute the federal requirement to complete Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification.
