Thread: AL: Shelby County gives vendors til March 15 to comply with Alabama immigration law

Shelby County gives vendors til March 15 to comply with Alabama immigration law

The Birmingham News
By Malcolm Daniels
February 28, 2012
SHELBY COUNTY, Alabama

Shelby County is giving pbrt 600 vendors who do business with the county until March 15 to submit documentation that they comply with Alabama's immigration law, which prohibits anyone doing business with governmental entities in the state from hiring illegal immigrant workers.


Companies are required to submit a sworn affidavit stating they have not hired illegal workers, and that they are enrolled in the federal E-Verify program.


Vendors doing business with the county also must submit affidavits from any subcontractors, indicating they also do not employ illegal workers.


The companies and subcontractors also must sign a second document that acknowledges they have been put on notice about required compliance with the immigration law, and that future contracts will include an agreement that companies will remove any known illegal workers from jobs in Shelby County.


Vendors who fail to meet Shelby County's March 15 deadline will not receive their next payment, County Manager Alex Dudchock told Shelby County commissioners this week.


The term vendor covers everything from companies that provide office supplies to the county to those who provide engineering services, Dudchock said.


Notices requiring county vendors to certify compliance with the immigration law are to be sent out Thursday. No companies have voluntarily submitted the information, Shelby County Finance Manager Butch Burbage said.


Other governmental entities across the state also are sending out notices to vendors concerning this part of the immigration law, which went into effect Jan. 1.


In Jefferson County, the county manager's office is requiring affidavits to be signed on all new contracts before they're submitted to the County Commission for approval, a county official said.


Burbage said he's not sure what state agency will enforce the law, but "we still have to be compliant with the law."


Under the immigration law, governments may terminate contracts with businesses who fail to comply with the law and the attorney general may seek to suspend the employer's business license for up to 60 days. On any subsequent violation, a business would lose its contract and may permanently lose its business license.


Jay Reed, president of the Alabama Associated Builders & Contractors of Alabama, said Tuesday that his group believes the affidavit requirement will be removed as part of revisions to the immigration law in a Senate bill that will be introduced in the ongoing legislative session.


However, "as of now, we're advising our members to go ahead and comply with the affidavit requirement," said Reed, whose members are commercial builders.


Reed said the affidavit requirement puts a burden of an "extra layer of paperwork" on mid-sized to small commercial builders.


"It's just an unnecessary process if everyone is E-verified," he said. Using E-Verify to determine whether a company is in compliance puts everyone on a level playing field, he said.


"The Republican Party feels that there were some unintended consequences in the law, and they're working hard to resolve those," Reed said.

Shelby County gives vendors til March 15 to comply with Alabama immigration law | al.com

It will be ineresting to see how much the unemployment numbers drop.