Signed by Governor Haley Barbour

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that sets penalties for employers that knowingly employ undocumented immigrants and for undocumented immigrants who engage in paid employment.

Highlights:

- Provides that every employer must verify the federal employment authorization status of all newly hired employees through a status verification system [Sec. 2 (4)(b)(i)]. - Provides that a contractor or subcontractor that does not participate in this status verification system may not enter into a contract with a public employer [Sec. 2 (4)(b)(iii)]. - Sets the following deadlines for meeting verification requirements: - State of Mississippi agencies and political subdivisions, public contractors or subcontractors, and private employers with 250 or more employees must meet verification requirements by July 1, 2008; - Employers with at least 100 but less than 250 employees must meet verification requirements by July 1, 2009; - Employers with at least 30 but less than 100 employees must meet verification requirements by July 1, 2010; - All employers must meet verification requirements by July 1, 2011 [Sec. 2 (7)(a-d)]. - Makes it a discriminatory practice for an employer to discharge an employee working in Mississippi who is a United States citizen or permanent resident while retaining an employee hired after July 1, 2008, engaged in similar work who the employer knows, or reasonably should have known, to be an unauthorized immigrant [Sec. 2 (4)(d)]. - Exempts individual homeowners who hire undocumented immigrants on their private property for non-commercial purposes from prosecution under this act, unless required by federal law to do so [Sec. 2 (8)(a)(iii)]. - Provides that any person who performs employment for wages knowing that he or she is an undocumented immigrant commits a felony punishable by between 1 and 5 years in prison, a fine of between $1,000 and $10,000, or both [Sec. 2 (8)(c)].

Full Bill Text