SENATE STATE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 207
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: JANUARY 22, 1996
The Senate State Government Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 207.
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.
This bill was pre-filed for introduction in the 1996 session pending technical review. As reported, this bill includes the changes required by technical review, which has been performed.