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Progress Report
2024 Legislative Review
The West Virginia State Legislature adjourned its 2024 session on March 9 after 60 days of discussion and debate . In this 2024 legislative review , West Virginia Executive looks at some of the House Bills ( HB ) and Senate Bills ( SB ) intended to have a major impact on West Virginians and the economy . From tax reform to cybersecurity , state lawmakers are doing the work to put the people and communities of West Virginia first .
HB 4759 By Brian Dayton
HOUSE : 82 YEAS – 12 NAYS
With significant national conversation surrounding the situation at the southern border of the U . S ., much speculation at the beginning of the session discussed what the Legislature may do to address the issue . Enter HB 4759 , a piece of legislation that would have required every employer in the state to utilize E-Verify to confirm the legal status of their workers . The problem ? The bill was a solution in search of a problem .
At its core , HB 4759 would have stripped out existing code related to hiring immigrants lacking permanent legal status , which requires businesses to conduct an I-9 and calls for potential jail time after a third offense . These financial and criminal penalties were replaced by business license suspensions of 10 days for the first offense , 60 days for the second and permanent for the third . These suspensions could have been triggered not for hiring an immigrant but for simply failing to conduct the e-verification in the specified timeframes , which themselves created a major challenge . Under the bill , businesses were required to conduct an e-verification within three days of hiring an individual unless that person was employed for less than three days , in which case the verification needed to occur on day one . This would have proved especially problematic in the case of a new hire quitting on the first day — something that can happen frequently in some professions .
After passing through the House at a furious pace , HB 4759 began to receive significant scrutiny from members of the Senate , resulting in the bill being referred to both the Government Organization Committee and the Committee on the Judiciary . A coalition of 12 trade associations representing nearly every economic sector in the state was quickly organized by the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Builders and Contractors , and this group embarked on numerous meetings with senators to discuss the many pitfalls of the legislation .
Armed with this information , the coalition opposing E-Verify conducted countless meetings with senators to explain the problems with the legislation . The final straw against this bill was research showing that none of the four states on the border — including Texas — had a law close to what was being proposed in West Virginia . Despite its rapid passage by the House , the bill was never taken up in the Senate .
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