Florida Republican Re-Files Bill Requiring E-Verify for All Employers

By Livia Caputo, Florida Phoenix

A Florida Republican on Thursday re-filed a bill from last year requiring all private employers to use a federal database verifying whether new hires are legally in the country.

Rep. Berny Jacques, a Seminole Republican, issued HB 197 to mandate all private businesses use E-Verify, a federally operated system allowing employers to electronically verify whether new employees can legally work in the United States. Florida already requires all public agencies, their contractors, and their subcontractors to use E-Verify.

“Beginning on July 1, 2026, a private employer shall use the E-Verify system to verify a new employee’s employment eligibility,” the bill reads, striking existing language that only requires businesses with at least 25 employees to use E-Verify.

More than 475,000 small businesses in Florida have fewer than 20 employees, according to a 2025 report by the Small Business Administration. Not counting businesses without employees — of which there are more than 2 million — there are fewer than 518,000 total small businesses employing one to 499 Floridians.

Jacques had tried to pass this measure during the 2025 session, but its Senate version stalled. Jacques’ bill, meanwhile, passed the House Floor with bipartisan support.

“We look forward to passing this in the House again and urge the Senate to join us in this effort,” Jacques told the Phoenix in a text message.

E-Verify in Florida

Immigration has been a headlining topic for Florida Republicans in recent years, dominating the past few sessions.

In 2023, former senator — now Chief Financial Officer — Blaise Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican, sponsored a massive immigration crackdown. The sweeping law required private businesses with at least 25 employees to use E-Verify and mandated Medicaid-accepting hospitals to question whether patients are citizens and report that information quarterly to the state.

During the 2025 session, GOP lawmakers upped the ante with another immigration package, this time forcing all counties to partner with ICE, removing in-state tuition for undocumented college students, and creating a state-level crime of illegally entering Florida.

The anti-undocumented immigration fervor has been reflected on the national stage under President Donald Trump, who’s expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement, encouraged construction of detention centers nationwide, and promised federal grants to states aiding in the arrest and detention of undocumented immigrants.

Last session, Sen. Jason Pizzo of Sunny Isles Beach, then a Democrat and now an independent, filed a competing bill that would have severely punished businesses for flouting E-Verify requirements. Although it similarly required all private companies to use the system, it would have revoked the business license of an employer who hires an immigrant illegally in Florida and charged him tens of thousands in fines.

Under existing law, the Florida Department of Commerce can fine violators $1,000 per day three times within two years, place them on probation for a year, and have them report to the department quarterly.

Pizzo has yet to file a similar bill for the 2026 session. He had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

Update: This story now includes a quote from Berny Jacques, and has been updated to correctly show that Jacques’ 2025 bill passed the House Floor. The Senate version never advanced.