MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2021 Regular Session
To: Workforce Development; Agriculture
By: Representative Currie
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 71-11-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO TRANSFER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ADMINISTERING THE ELECTRONIC VERIFICATION OF WORK AUTHORIZATION PROGRAM ("E-VERIFY PROGRAM") FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY TO THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE; TO IMPOSE ADDITIONAL PENALTIES UPON EMPLOYERS FOUND TO BE IN VIOLATION; TO AMEND SECTION 69-1-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE TO INCLUDE THE ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION OF THE E-VERIFY PROGRAM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 71-11-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
71-11-3. (1) This chapter shall be known as the "Mississippi Employment Protection Act."
(2) The provisions of this section shall be enforced without regard to race, gender, religion, ethnicity or national origin.
(3) For the purpose of this section only, the following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the content clearly states otherwise:
(a) "Employer" is any person or business that is required by federal or state law to issue a United States Internal Revenue Service Form W-2 or Form 1099 to report income paid to employed or contracted personnel in Mississippi.
(b) "Employee" is any person or entity that is hired to perform work within the State of Mississippi and to whom a United States Internal Revenue Service Form W-2 or Form 1099 must be issued.
(c) "Third-party employer" is any person or company that provides workers for another person or company. This includes, but is not limited to, leasing companies and contract employers.
(d) "Status verification system" means the electronic verification of work authorization program of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act of 1996, Public Law 104-208, Division C, Section 403(a); 8 USC, Section 1324a, and operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security, known as the E-Verify Program.
(e) "Unauthorized alien" means an alien as defined in Section 1324a(h)(3) of Title 8 of the United States Code.
(f) "Public employer" means every department, agency or instrumentality of the state or a political subdivision of the state.
(g) "Subcontractor" means a subcontractor, contract employee, staffing agency or any contractor regardless of its tier.
(4) (a) Employers in the State of Mississippi shall only hire employees who are legal citizens of the United States of America or are legal aliens. For purposes of this section, a legal alien is an individual who was lawfully present in the United States at the time of employment and for the duration of employment, or was permanently residing in the United States under color of law at the time of employment and for the duration of employment.
(b) (i) Every employer shall register with and utilize the status verification system to verify the federal employment authorization status of all newly hired employees.
(ii) No contractor or subcontractor shall hire any employee unless the contractor or subcontractor registers and participates in the status verification system to verify the work eligibility status of all newly hired employees.
(iii) No contractor or subcontractor who enters into a contract with a public employer shall enter into such a contract or subcontract unless the contractor or subcontractor registers and participates in the status verification system to verify information of all newly hired employees.
(c) The provision of this section shall not apply to any contracts entered into on or before July 1, 2008.
(d) It shall be a discriminatory practice for an employer to discharge an employee working in Mississippi who is a United States citizen or permanent resident alien while retaining an employee who the employing entity knows, or reasonably should have known, is an unauthorized alien hired after July 1, 2008, and who is working in Mississippi in a job category that requires equal skill, effort and responsibility, and which is performed under similar working conditions, as defined by 29 USC, Section 206(d)(1), as the job category held by the discharged employee.
(e) An employing entity which, on the date of the discharge in question, was enrolled in and used the status verification system to verify the employment eligibility of its employees in Mississippi hired after July 1, 2008, shall be exempt from liability, investigation or suit arising from any action under this section.
(f) No cause of action for a violation of this section shall lie under any other Mississippi law but shall arise solely from the provisions of this section.
(5) Any employer that
complies with the requirements of this section shall be held harmless by the
Mississippi Department of * * *Employment Security Agriculture and Commerce, provided
the employer is not directly involved in the creation of any false documents,
and provided that the employer did not knowingly and willfully accept false
documents from the employee.
(6) (a) All third-party
employers that conduct business in Mississippi shall register to do business in
Mississippi with the Mississippi Department of * * * Agriculture and Commerce
before placing employees into the workforce in Mississippi.
(b) Third-party employers shall provide proof of registration and any participation in the status verification system to any Mississippi employer with whom they do business.
(7) (a) State of Mississippi agencies and political subdivisions, public contractors and public subcontractors and private employers with two hundred fifty (250) or more employees shall meet verification requirements not later than July 1, 2008.
(b) Employers with at least one hundred (100) but less than two hundred fifty (250) employees shall meet verification requirements not later than July 1, 2009.
(c) Employers with at least thirty (30) but less than one hundred (100) employees shall meet verification requirements not later than July 1, 2010.
(d) All employers shall meet verification requirements not later than July 1, 2011.
(e) (i) Any employer violating the provisions of this section shall be subject to the cancellation of any state or public contract, resulting in ineligibility for any state or public contract for up to three (3) years, the loss of any license, permit, certificate or other document granted to the employer by any agency, department or government entity in the State of Mississippi for the right to do business in Mississippi for up to one (1) year, or both, and be subject to the criminal penalties imposed under subsection (8)(c)(i) of this section for violations by unauthorized alien employees.
(ii) The contractor or employer shall be liable for any additional costs incurred by the agencies and institutions of the State of Mississippi, or any of its political subdivisions, because of the cancellation of the contract or the loss of any license or permit to do business in the state.
(iii) Any person or entity penalized under this section shall have the right to appeal to the appropriate entity bringing charges or to the circuit court of competent jurisdiction.
(f) The Department of * * * Agriculture and Commerce, * * * Department of Revenue,
Secretary of State, Department of Human Services and the Attorney General shall
have the authority to seek penalties under this section and to bring charges
for noncompliance against any employer or employee.
(8) (a) There shall be no liability under this section in the following circumstances:
(i) An employer who hires an employee through a state or federal work program that requires verification of the employee's social security number and provides for verification of the employee's lawful presence in the United States in an employment-authorized immigration status;
(ii) Any candidate
for employment referred by the Mississippi Department of * * * Agriculture and Commerce,
if the Mississippi Department of * * * Agriculture and Commerce
has verified the social security number and provides for verification of the
candidate's lawful presence in the United States in an employment-authorized
immigration status; or
(iii) Individual homeowners who hire workers on their private property for noncommercial purposes, unless required by federal law to do so.
(b) (i) Compliance with the sections of this statute shall not exempt the employer from regulations and requirements related to any federal laws or procedures related to employers.
(ii) This section shall not be construed as an attempt to preempt federal law.
(c) (i) It shall be a felony for any person to accept or perform employment for compensation knowing or in reckless disregard that the person is an unauthorized alien with respect to employment during the period in which the unauthorized employment occurred. Upon conviction, a violator shall be subject to imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years, a fine of not less than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) nor more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), or both.
(ii) For purposes of determining bail for persons who are charged under this section, it shall be a rebuttable presumption that a defendant who has entered and remains in the United States unlawfully is deemed at risk of flight for purposes of bail determination.
SECTION 2. Section 69-1-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
69-1-13. The following are the duties of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce:
(a) He shall encourage the proper development of agriculture, horticulture and kindred industries.
(b) He shall encourage the organization of neighborhood and county agricultural clubs and associations, and out of these the organization of the state agricultural association.
(c) He shall collect and publish statistics and such other information regarding such industries of this state and of other states as may be of benefit in developing the agricultural resources of the state. To this end he shall put himself in connection and shall cooperate with the agricultural department of other states and with the Commissioner of Agriculture of the United States, and shall provide for the proper and careful distribution of all documents and information coming into his possession on account of the department that may be of interest and benefit to the people of the state.
(d) He shall cause to be investigated the diseases of grain, cotton, fruit and other crops grown in this state and also remedies for such diseases, and also the habits and propagation of the various insects that are injurious to the crops of the state and the proper mode of their destruction.
(e) He shall investigate the subject of grasses and report upon their value and the cultivation of the varieties best adapted to the different sections of the state.
(f) He shall inquire into the subjects connected with dairying that he may deem of interest to the people of the state, and in this connection the raising of stock and poultry, the obtaining of such as are of most value, and the breeding and propagation of the same; and shall encourage raising of fish and the culture of bees.
(g) He shall investigate the subjects of subsoiling, drainage, etc., and the best modes of effecting each, and of irrigation and what portions of the state can be best benefited thereby.
(h) He shall investigate and report upon the culture of wool and the utility and profit of sheep-raising, also the culture of silk and its manufacture and preparation for market.
(i) He shall investigate and report on the question of broadening the market for cotton and cotton goods in the United States and foreign countries.
(j) He shall cause a proper collection of agricultural statistics to be made annually, and to this end shall furnish blank forms to the tax assessors of each county, and it is made the special duty of the tax assessor to whom said blanks are furnished to report to the bureau a list of all public or private ginners in his county, with their post offices, upon the demand of the commissioner. It shall be the duty of the commissioner to furnish to such ginner a form or forms of report to be made to the bureau at such time as the commissioner may direct. A failure to make such reports on the part of the ginner or assessor as required by said commissioner shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, punished as provided by law. It shall be the duty of the members of the boards of supervisors and the county tax assessor of each county in this state to make such reports as may be required by this bureau touching the matter within the scope of this chapter; and failure of any supervisor or tax assessor to make such report when required shall be deemed a misdemeanor and shall be punished as provided by law.
(k) He shall appoint county correspondents who shall report to him from time to time, as may be desired.
(l) He shall collect specimens of wood suitable for manufacture and other purposes, and specimens of agricultural, mineral, phosphate and marl deposits of the state; cause correct analysis of such as may be deemed expedient to be made and recorded in a substantial book to be kept for this purpose.
(m) He shall also, as soon as practicable, prepare a convenient handbook with necessary illustrated maps, which shall contain all necessary information as to the mines, mineral, forest, soil, and other products, climate, water, waterpower for the establishing of factories, land, flowers, fisheries, mountains, streams, and all other statistics as are best adapted to the giving of proper information and the attraction of advantages which the state affords to immigrants, and shall make illustrated expositions thereof whenever practicable at international and state expositions.
(n) He shall have the primary responsibility for developing programs that will enhance the marketing of the state's agricultural products to both national and international markets.
(o) He shall have the primary responsibility of administering and supervising the electronic verification of work authorization program ("E-Verify Program"), for the purpose of enforcing the illegal employment of unauthorized aliens in the Mississippi workforce.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2021.