Rep. Harrell Files E-Verify Bill to Bar Illegal Immigrant Employment

As expected, state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Port St. Lucie, has filed a bill to require Florida employers to use the federal E-Verify employee screening system.

House Bill 691 is the companion measure to Sen. Alan Hays' SB 518.

This bill is a job creator.We need to get Floridians back to work. By filing this bill we will give Floridians the chance on jobs which were not available to them before,Harrell said.

In a statement, Harrell said that with an estimated 1.1 million Floridians unemployed, E-Verify "will provide a protective shield ensuring that future jobs go to legal applicants."

The measure contains a safe-harbor provision that provides a rebuttable presumption that employers using E-Verify did not knowingly employ an unauthorized alien.

Several other immigration bills are expected to be offered, including a law-enforcement measure by Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart. Republican legislative leaders have not said if they will allow the bills to stand on their own, or be consolidated into an omnibus package.