The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Pennsylvania House Bill 610 Expands E-Verify Requirements for All Public Contracts and Sets Penalties for Violations
Last action · February 20, 2025: Referred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY, Feb. 20, 2025Sponsors: Milou Mackenzie and 3 others
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Would Do
House Bill 610 expands Pennsylvania's public contractor employment verification laws to apply to all public contracts rather than only public works projects. The legislation requires contractors and subcontractors to participate in the E-Verify Program, prohibits discrimination during verification, and establishes graduated sanctions ranging from warning letters to multi-year s and civil penalties between $2,500 and $25,000.
Contractors doing business with any in Pennsylvania must enroll in the federal E-Verify system and submit verification forms prior to contract execution or face financial penalties and temporary or permanent from public contracting.
- Pennsylvania's Administrative Code of 1929 governs the structure, operations, and administrative functions of the executive department and state agencies. context
- E-Verify is an internet-based system operated by the federal government that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. 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.
Public contractors
Must participate in the E-Verify Program for all public contracts, submit verification forms, and face potential audits, civil penalties, or debarment for noncompliance.
Subcontractors
Required to verify employee eligibility through E-Verify, provide compliance forms prior to starting work, and adhere to anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation rules.
Employees of public contractors and subcontractors
Subject to employment eligibility verification through E-Verify and protected against discrimination and workplace retaliation.
Department of General Services
Tasked with posting information and forms, accepting complaints, conducting audits, enforcing provisions, and issuing warning letters or seeking penalties.
Key Facts
- Expands employment verification mandates from public works projects to all public contracts between a public body and a public contractor for supplies, services, or construction.
- Requires public contractors and subcontractors to participate in the E-Verify Program (EVP) and verify employment eligibility for each new employee.
- Exempts contractors or subcontractors without employees from enrolling in EVP, provided they submit an affidavit certifying work authorization and enroll before hiring any employees.
- Prohibits public contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, or national origin during the verification process.
Show all 11 facts
- Mandates that contractors and subcontractors submit a verification form acknowledging compliance as a precondition of being awarded a public contract or commencing work.
- Authorizes the Department of General Services to investigate complaints and conduct complaint-based and random audits of contractors and subcontractors.
- Imposes graduated sanctions for EVP noncompliance: a warning letter for a first violation, a 60-day debarment for a second violation, and a one- to two-year debarment for third and subsequent violations.
- Requires the secretary to file a petition in Commonwealth Court for alleged willful violations, which can result in a three-year debarment if proven.
- Subjects violations regarding verification forms or false statements to civil penalties ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 per violation.
- Protects employees from retaliation, making it unlawful to discharge, threaten, or discriminate against an employee who participates in an investigation or reports a violation.
- Grants good faith immunity and exemption from sanctions to contractors or subcontractors who rely in good faith on EVP procedures and receive written acknowledgment from a federal agency.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who must participate in the E-Verify Program under this bill?
What happens if a contractor or subcontractor has no employees?
What penalties apply for submitting false information on a verification form?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
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- Feb 20, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to LABOR AND INDUSTRY, Feb. 20, 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.
Broadening of E-Verify Mandates Beyond Public Works
The legislation broadens the scope of Pennsylvania's employment verification statute from specific public works projects governed by the Prevailing Wage Act to any contract with a public body.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.palegis.us
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy60Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools