A proposal aimed at expanding the use of employment verification in Utah has stalled once again in the state legislature, highlighting ongoing divisions among Republican lawmakers over immigration enforcement and business interests.
The Utah House Business, Labor, and Commerce Committee voted down House Bill 294, a measure that would have expanded the state’s E-Verify requirement to more employers. Under current Utah law, only businesses with 150 or more employees must use the federal E-Verify system to confirm that newly hired workers are legally authorized to work in the United States. The proposed bill would have lowered that threshold to companies with 50 or more employees.
Supporters of the measure argued that expanding E-Verify would help reduce illegal employment and protect Americans from identity theft tied to unauthorized work. Republican State Representative Tiara Auxier, who sponsored the bill, emphasized that fraudulent use of Social Security numbers is a growing concern.
Auxier said undocumented workers often obtain employment by using stolen identities, sometimes taking Social Security numbers belonging to children whose numbers may go unused for years.
“It wasn’t just people coming here undocumented and working here undocumented,” Auxier said. “It was stealing people’s identities so that they were able to work.”
She argued that the practice can create serious financial complications for victims later in life. When those children eventually enter the workforce, they may discover tax or employment records tied to their Social Security numbers that they never created.
Despite those concerns, the committee declined to move the legislation forward. According to reporting from the Salt Lake Tribune, lawmakers did not hear formal testimony opposing the bill during the committee hearing, yet it still failed to advance.
Some Republican legislators expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of E-Verify itself. State Senator Scott Sandall, for example, questioned whether the system reliably detects unauthorized workers.
“If it worked, it’d be great,” Sandall said. “But there have been so many times that I’ve heard people just say it just doesn’t work, and so I don’t think there’s any reason to tie any more to it.”
The rejection comes after a similar effort last year also failed in the Utah House. Business groups had previously warned that stricter verification requirements could make it harder for companies to find workers in certain industries.
Another related proposal also failed to advance this year. House Bill 214, introduced by Republican State Representative Neil Walter, would have required businesses with five or more employees to use E-Verify. Walter said the goal was to address identity theft while ensuring fair hiring practices.
“My feeling was that we ought to be putting the security interests of our citizens first,” Walter said, adding that employers and employees should compete on an even playing field.
Walter’s bill also included provisions allowing prosecution for individuals found using stolen or fraudulent identities to obtain employment.
Data cited by the Utah Department of Workforce Services suggests the problem may be significant. According to reporting from the Deseret News, hundreds of Utah children currently have government identification numbers being used by adults to collect wages, while thousands of Social Security numbers appear to be linked to multiple names in employment records.
