Lakewood Council Opposes Bill to End ‘E-Verify’ Requirement

Lakewood would no longer be able to require contractors doing business with the city to use the “e-verify” employment verification program under a bill being considered by the state House.

And that has city leaders upset.

“Since June 2009, Lakewood has required contractors to sign affidavits stating they will use the E-Verify program and not hire anyone who is not legally entitled to work in the United States,” the city said in a news release Friday. “E-Verify is a federal electronic database that examines Social Security and Homeland Security records to make this determination.”

Under House Bill 2568, employers could still use the program, but they can’t be required to use it.

The bill cites ongoing problems with the electronic system, as well as the high cost to businesses to use it.

“The costs, technological demands, and staff time required to use and implement the e-verify program come at a time when many employers are struggling and many workers remain unemployed,” the bill says. “It is too expensive to mandate the use of the e-verify program, especially in fragile economic times.”

But Lakewood’s City Council disagrees, and passed a unanimous resolution this week to formally oppose the bill.

“We passed the legislation to protect legal workers and to ensure fair wages in the labor market," Mayor Douglas Richardson said in a statement. “The proposed bill not only would thwart those goals, it also is inconsistent with statutory authority that gives cities the broad authority to govern their own affairs.”