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Sample letter to email your elected official |
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Dear Congressman __________________, As your constituent, a human resource professional and one of more than 225,000 members of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), I am writing to encourage you to sign-on as a cosponsor of H.R. 5515, the "New Employment Verification Act" (NEVA), recently introduced by Representative Sam Johnson (R-TX). NEVA would replace the federal government's current employer verification process with a new, entirely electronic verification system, named the "Electronic Employment Verification System (EEVS)." Employers would be required to use the state "new hire" reporting process, which is currently used for child support enforcement, to access EEVS. This would allow employers to confirm the work eligibility of U.S. citizens through the Social Security Administration database and that of non-citizens through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) database. In addition, the bill would also create a voluntary biometrics option that employers could choose to use in the verification process. This system would include a standard background check and the collection of a "biometric" characteristic - such as a thumbprint - to secure an employee's identity and prevent the illegal use of a Social Security number, stolen or fraudulently-obtained drivers' license, or altered identification documents in the future. Other key NEVA provisions include: * Allows the entire attestation requirements to be done electronically and eliminates the current Form I-9. * Applies only to employer's newly hired employees and would not require employers to re-verify all existing employees as is required by other bills. * Provides that federal immigration law preempts any state law in regard to employer fines or sanctions for immigration-related issues or in requiring employers to verify work status or identity for work authorization purposes. * Requires employers to be responsible only for the hiring decisions of their own employees, not those of their subcontractors.
As an HR professional, I work with the current employment verification system on a daily basis. I believe the existing document-based employment eligibility verification system falls far short of serving our national interests, as employers cannot know for certain whether such documents are real or fake. In addition, the voluntary electronic verification program known as "E-Verify" is vulnerable to the growing problem of identity theft. H.R. 5515 embraces an employment verification system that HR professionals can trust; one that addresses the issue of identity theft and is built upon an electronic system that is currently in use and which works. I urge you to contact Representative Sam Johnson's office today and sign-on as a cosponsor to H.R. 5515. Congressman, The RI House has passed statewide legislation, H. 7107 and the RI Senate will be hearing the companion bill S 2091 on Wednesday May 7th which would require employers to participate in the federal E-Verify Program and it provides for penalties for non compliance. RI SHRM is opposed to immigration reform being regulated at the state level. Immigration enforcement should be decided by the federal government and should not be legislated by the states. Best Regards,
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