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Read. Follow. Verify.Pennsylvania House Bill 903 Requires Meat Packing and Food Preparation Employers to Use E-Verify and Prohibits Unauthorized Employment
Last action · March 13, 2025: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY, March 13, 2025Sponsors: Milou Mackenzie and 4 others
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What This Bill Would Do
Pennsylvania House Bill 903 requires employers with 100 or more employees in the meat packing and food preparation industries to verify the Social Security numbers and employment eligibility of new hires using the . The measure prohibits the employment of unauthorized workers, establishes an enforcement and complaint process through the Department of Labor and Industry, and imposes penalties including business license suspensions for repeat violations, effective one year after enactment.
Large meat packing and food preparation businesses in Pennsylvania face mandatory federal electronic verification protocols, probationary oversight, and potential license suspension or revocation for non-compliance, while employees gain formal anti-retaliation protections and remedies.
- E-Verify is an internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. context
- The Pennsylvania General Assembly considers various legislative proposals each session concerning employment standards, licensing regulations, and workplace verification requirements. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Meat packing and food preparation employers
Employers with 100 or more workers must verify new employee eligibility using E-Verify, maintain records, submit to department investigations, and face potential license suspensions or probationary periods for violations.
Staffing agencies
Staffing agencies supplying workers to meat packing or food preparation industries must comply with verification rules for those workers.
Employees in the meat packing and food preparation industries
Workers gain formal protections against workplace retaliation, including the right to sue for reinstatement and triple wage restitution.
Department of Labor and Industry
The department is tasked with developing complaint forms, conducting investigations, verifying work authorization, issuing warnings, and tracking employer compliance.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which businesses are required to use the E-Verify program under this bill?
What happens if an employer commits a first violation of employing an unauthorized worker?
What protections are available to employees who report violations?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
1 action- Mar 13, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY, March 13, 2025
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Mandatory E-Verify Expansion for Specific Food Sectors
The bill shifts oversight by imposing specific state-level investigative duties and license suspension mechanisms on meat packing and food preparation employers utilizing 100 or more workers.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.palegis.us
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy70Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz45Current news / social attention level
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