SENATE, No. 207

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION

 

 

By Senator CONNORS

 

 

An Act requiring certain certification to verify employment eligibility of individuals and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

 

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

    1. The Legislature finds and declares that the privileges and benefits of residing or working in the State of New Jersey are reserved for citizens of the United States and those persons whose presence in the United States is authorized by federal law and that the State government should make an effort to ensure that unauthorized aliens do not receive any privileges and benefits accorded by the State government.

 

    2. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, no person shall receive from the State of New Jersey a contract, loan, tax deferral, tax reduction, tax abatement, grant, subsidy, loan guarantee, certification, or license unless that person shall certify that the person's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law, or if the person is an employer, that the person has verified all employees' eligibility for employment in the United States in compliance with federal law.

    The Department of Labor shall prepare and make available to every principal department in the Executive Branch of State government and any division, board, bureau, office, commission or other instrumentality within or created by a principal department and any independent State authority, commission, instrumentality or agency a form that shall state that the signatory as an individual certifies that the signatory's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law and in the case of a signatory who shall receive from the State monies, licensure or any other benefit as an employer, that the signatory certifies that all employees' eligibility for employment in the United States has been verified in compliance with federal law. The form shall contain the following statement:

    "I certify that all the above statements are true, that I am aware that State law provides a penalty for written false statements and that the State of New Jersey reserves the right to terminate, cancel, rescind or revoke any privilege or benefit granted by the State based upon the above statements should any of them prove false."

    The Department of Labor shall append a notice to the form stating that every principal department, and every division, board, bureau, office, commission or other instrumentality within or created by a principal department, and every independent State authority, commission, instrumentality or agency shall make every effort to incorporate the language of the form into each contract; loan application; tax deferral, reduction, or abatement application; or application for a grant, subsidy, loan guarantee, certification, or license. It is the intent of the Legislature to incorporate the certification requirements of this act into the existing procedures of each agency rather than to establish a separate certification filing system.

    Notwithstanting any other provisions of this act to the contrary, nothing in this act shall be construed to prohibit any agency from exhausting existing stocks of applications or forms.

 

    3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 

STATEMENT

 

    This bill provides that no person shall receive from the State of New Jersey a contract, loan, tax deferral, tax reduction, tax abatement, grant, subsidy, loan guarantee, certification, or license unless that person certifies that his or her presence in the United States is authorized under federal law, or if the person is an employer receiving from the State monies, licensure or any other benefit, that he or she has verified all employees' eligibility for employment in the United States in compliance with federal law.

    The bill requires the Department of Labor to prepare and make available to all State entities a form which shall require signatories, as individuals and as employers, to indicate compliance with federal law with regard to unauthorized aliens. The form shall contain the following statement:

    "I certify that all the above statements are true, that I am aware that State law provides a penalty for written false statements and that the State of New Jersey reserves the right to terminate, cancel, rescind or revoke any privilege or benefit granted by the State based upon the above statements should any of them prove false."

    Although the bill does require the Department of Labor to prepare forms to indicate compliance with federal law with regard to unauthorized aliens, there is allowance for the exhaustion of existing stocks of applications or forms prior to the production of new ones.

    The bill states that it is the Legislature's intent that each State entity make every effort to incorporate the language of the form into existing documents and procedures rather than establish a separate certification filing system.

 

 

 

Requires certification that persons directly or indirectly receiving State monies or privileges are not unauthorized aliens.