Lazaro Aleman
news@greenepublishing.com
bill recently introduced in the Florida House of Representatives would force every private business in the state – whether a small shop or a large chain-type facility – to use E-Verify to ensure that new hires are authorized to work in the United States. E-Verify is the federal online platform that allows employers to check on workers’ legal status and employment eligibility.
House Bill 197, which Republican Representative Berny Jacques filed on Tuesday, Oct. 16, is titled “Employment Eligibility.” The measure, if approved, would remove from the current law the language that requires only those businesses employing 25 or more workers from having to conduct E-Verification. This means that even employers with only a single employee would be required to carry out the online checks. Per its sponsor, the legislation is intended to enforce the laws banning employers from hiring individuals without the required documentation and thus serve to strengthen the state’s workforce integrity.
A similar measure passed last year in the House but failed in the Senate. The way the law now stands, public employers and private businesses with 25 or more employees must use E-Verify.
Critics question the accuracy of E-Verify and warn of its damaging economic effects. They say that the measure would create more burdens for businesses that are already struggling to hire new workers, given Florida’s labor shortage and the unwillingness of many to take on low-end jobs.
According to 2025 data from the Small Business Administration, more than 475,000 of the 518,000 or so total small businesses in Florida employ fewer than 20 workers. If one were to count the small businesses with no employees, the number would exceed two million.