A House committee wants to see clarifications made to a bill that requires companies that do business with the state of Utah to participate in a federal program to verify the work eligibility of new hires.

The House Business and Labor Committee opted not to vote on HB127 Thursday after concerns were raised that it could require companies that contract with the state to also regulate subcontractors.

"I would like to see some definitive language that clarifies this," said Rep. Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork. "Sometimes the state can be more reaching than to whoever signed the contract. The general contractor is held responsible for all the subcontracts."

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, said he planned to work on the clarification and bring the bill back to the committee.

It's one of of two bills pending that would require participation in the federal employment verification program. The other, HB156, sponsored by Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, would require all Utah companies participate. That bill has yet to see a hearing.

On Thursday, Sanstrom told committee members that HB127 is "mainly to try and alleviate the growing problem of identity theft in our state."

The bill was amended to require companies that receive more than $25,000 in state funds to participated in the federal Basic Pilot program, which is currently an optional Internet-based employment verification system.

Participating employers enter into an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to provide information on I-9 employment eligibility forms. If the information doesn't match, the new hires must get the discrepancy cleared up or be terminated.

"It is not an onerous program," Sandstrom said. "You can very easily join the program. ... My firm has joined."

However, pointing to the December enforcement action at Swift & Co. plant in Hyrum, Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corinne, questioned whether requiring participation in the federal program would expose employers to "get wrung through the wringer."

Ferry was referring the Dec. 12 arrest of 1,282 workers at Swift plants in Utah and five other states. He brought up claims by the company, which participates in Basic Pilot, that the enforcement action could cost it up to $30 million.

Roger Tsai, an immigration attorney for Parsons Behle & Latimer, said participating in Basic Pilot doesn't protect companies from immigration raids, but it does protect against criminal and civil penalties. He said Basic Pilot only detects when information doesn't match. It doesn't protect against cases such as Swift, where entire identities were stolen.

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