§ 7A-1. Legislative intent.

A. 

The Town Board hereby finds that there has been an ongoing national debate regarding the unfairness and inequities between employers that comply with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations in connection with the hiring of their employees and employers that fail to comply with such laws and regulations. The Town Board further finds and determines that these inequities provide a financial disadvantage to those employers who comply with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations in connection with the hiring of their employees while, in turn, providing an unfair financial advantage to those employers who do not comply with the law. The Town Board further finds and determines that there has been a lack of enforcement of a twenty-year old federal law (Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986) that requires businesses to verify that their employees are legally eligible to be employed in the United States.

B. 

The Town Board also finds and determines that employer noncompliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations that regulate the hiring of employees results in diminished protections of employees from unfair labor practices and fosters the circumvention of prevailing wage and health insurance coverage requirements. The Town Board further finds and determines that the Town at present has no jurisdiction to enforce the federal law, even against businesses that are one-hundred-percent funded by the Town.

C. 

The Town Board also finds and determines that the Town has a finite amount of scarce taxpayer resources to expend, which resources shall be spent wisely and prudently. The Town further finds that the Town provides contracts and agreements with businesses that result in the creation and maintenance of a wide variety of employment opportunities in the Town, thereby affording the Town the opportunity to utilize its economic and financial leverage to compel businesses to comply with the federal law requiring businesses to verify that their employees are legally eligible to be employed in the United States.

D. 

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide a means of assisting the enforcement of the federal law requiring businesses to verify that their employees are legally eligible to be employed in the United States, by providing an enforcement mechanism at the Town level against noncompliant businesses that are one-hundred-percent funded by the Town, thereby:

(1) 

Helping to promote the federal policy of requiring employers to verify employment status of potential employees;

(2) 

Helping to eliminate unfair competitive advantages between businesses;

(3) 

Helping to eliminate unfair labor practices and worker exploitation; and

(4) 

Helping to assure taxpayers that employers and employees are paying their fair share of taxes by complying with tax laws.