PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 28, 2008
New Employee Verification Act of 2008 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to require employers to verify employee identification and employment eligibility under the Electronic Employment Verification System (EEVS) or the Secure Employment Eligibility Verification System (SEEVS) (as established by this Act).
Permits employers subject to employee verification requirements to do so under EEVS or SEEVS.
Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) voluntary and expedited participation; (2) employer penalties for failure to participate in EEVS or SEEVS; (3) employer and employee information and document requirements; (4) employer liability protection; (5) attestation; and (6) consequences of EEVS determinations.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
States that nothing in this Act shall be construed to require a national identification card.
Repeals the employment eligibility pilot programs under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.
Amends title II (Old Age, Survivor's and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to direct the Commissioner of Social Security to establish EEVS utilizing information in the National Directory of New Hires.
States that EEVS shall have the capacity to determine whether: (1) employer-submitted information is consistent with information maintained by the Commissioner with respect to U.S. citizens and nationals and by the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to aliens; and (2) the individual is a citizen or national or is not an unauthorized alien.
Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) submission for confirmation of an individual's identification and employment eligibility and related EEVs determinations; (2) administrative and judicial review of employment disapproval; (3) EEVS implementation; and (4) data use by EEVS.
Directs the Commissioner to establish SEEVS to provide, through government certified private entities, for verification of identity and employment eligibility respecting new employees
Permits an employer to opt out of SEEVS after one year's participation.
Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) certification of entities; (2) database management, including limitations on accessibility and the use and storage of biometric data; (3) employer responsibilities; (4) employee protections; and (5) information security and confidentiality, including penalties for violations.
Directs the Commissioner to establish the Employment Verification Advisory Council, which shall terminate five years after enactment of this Act.
Amends INA to: (1) apply certain antidiscrimination provisions to EEVS and SEEVS; (2) increase civil money penalties for unfair employment practice violations; (3) increase civil money penalties for certain hiring, recruiting, and referral violations (reduces certain penalties for small employers, exempts certain good faith, first-time violations, and provides a safe harbor for certain contractors); and (4) increase criminal penalties for pattern or practice violations.
Amends SSA to: (1) provide for disclosure to the Secretary of Homeland Security of certain National Directory of New Hires information about employees with the greatest number or percentage of mismatched social security information; (2) deny credit toward earnings benefits from unauthorized work; (3) revise totalization agreement provisions; and (4) prohibit survivor's lump sum death payments to individuals who have been removed from the United States under INA.
People & committees
Rep. Johnson, Sam [R-TX-3] · R–TX
Legislative record
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Referred to the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H1344)
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E268-269)
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
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Source last updated: Mar 23, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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