December 9, 2025
A move to require all employers to use E-Verify – the federal government’s largely voluntary employment eligibility verification system – is gaining momentum on the state and federal level.
Nationally, the program is voluntary for most employers. Currently, about 1.39 million employers are enrolled in E-Verify, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Florida and 21 other states mandate its use for some employers, and certain federal contractors must enroll.
In Florida, only employers with 25 or more employees are required to use the system. (The Small Business Administration estimates Florida has nearly 500,000 businesses with fewer than 20 employees on staff.) In addition, Florida also requires all public agencies plus their subcontractors to use the E-Verify system.
Rep. Berney Jacques, R-Seminole, is again pushing a bill that would make E-Verify a requirement for every state employer. On Dec. 1, the state house’s Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee approved Jacques’ latest proposal, and House Bill 197 advanced. It now moves on to the state house’s Commerce Committee.
Last year, the House approved Jacques’ bill, but the legislation stalled in the state senate. Jacques says the measure, “will further strengthen the workforce integrity of our state.”
However, State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, countered, saying “We’re in desperate need of common-sense policies that are looking towards more solutions, not creating more burdens for businesses who are facing serious challenges and even hiring enough workers right now.”
This measure is the focus of the construction industry, particularly small contractors and sub-contractors who will need added clerical and HR support to meet the new regulation. In November, the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) lent conditional support to a federal proposal to make E-Verify a national requirement.
NAHB would like to see the requirement:
- Maintain an employer’s responsibility for only verifying the identities of direct employers, meaning that home builders would not be required to verify their subcontractors or subcontractors’ workers.
- Provide employers safe harbors for good-faith use of the E-Verify system, including identity fraud.
- Expedite the verification process closer to an employee’s hiring date.
- Ensure that all system requirements are accessible to small business operators, including by telephone.
Testifying on behalf of the NAHB, Ivory Development president Chris Gamvroulas, said a nationwide E-Verify mandate must work for the smallest employer as well as the largest.
“Approximately 80% of NAHB members have fewer than 10 employees and often lack human resources, legal departments and even office-based hiring processes,” Gamvroulas said.
Supporters tout the proposed E-Verify national mandate as a way to protect American workers, deter illegal immigration and stop employers from exploiting illegal labor. That opinion is echoed in Florida, where both Gov. Ron DeSantis and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson back making E-Verify a requirement.
However, the NAHB wants to ensure that state requirements don’t create duplicative work for its members.
“If employers are required to use the federal E-Verify program, they must be assured there is only one set of rules for compliance,” Gamvroulas said.
Gamvroulas also noted that the significant labor shortage in the U.S. construction industry has delayed home building projects and raised housing costs. He said a recent NAHB/University of Denver study found the construction timeline of the average single-family home has been stalled for two months, creating $2.66 billion in annual added costs.
With foreign-born workers making up approximately 25% of the construction force, the NAHB wants Congress to enact and support sensible immigration policies that protect the nation’s borders while also providing a pathway for workers to fill the labor gap.
At that same federal hearing in November, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar questioned the accuracy of E-Verify, citing a 2019 Cato Institute study that found the system’s 70,000 legal workers were mistakenly identified as ineligible.
“If every employer were forced to use E-Verify, experts estimate that those errors would hit roughly 200,000 legal workers every year, with tens of thousands wrongly pushed out of the labor market entirely,” Omar said.