SUMMARY:  This bill would amend Code Section 13-10-91 of the O.C.G.A. to clarify requirements relating to public employers’ verification of employee work eligibility and to set penalties.

REQUIREMENTS:

• It would require boards of education to verify that a contractor and any subcontractors or any other employees of the contractor and subcontractors participate in the federal work authorization program.
• Affidavits as such would have to be maintained by the board for 5 years with consequences of falsifying a government document.
• The contractor, upon entering into a contract, would have to provide the board in an affidavit the identity of all subcontractors on the project within 3 business days of the contractual agreement to include the subcontractors' names, addresses, user ID numbers,  and dates of authorization to use the federal work authorization program.
• The board would have to file compliance reports subject to annual audits with 200 random audits conducted each year to include all state agencies, with boards of education among them.
• Failure of a local board to comply would result in having to forfeit 10% of its state funding for the year following a violation.
• Failure for a contractor to comply would result in prohibition of bidding on a public contract for 12 months, plus a $5000 fine per day of violation.  Those fines would accrue to the benefit of the public employer (board of education).