# 119-s-1151: Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act 119-s-1151, Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] (R-IA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-11). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1151 - As of: 2026-08-11 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-1151 - Congress: 119 - Title: Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2025-03-26 - Sponsor: Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] (R-IA) - Cosponsors: 12 - Policy area: Immigration - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-08-11 ## Summary **Mandatory, expanded E-Verify** would make the federal employment verification pilot permanent and push the system toward near-universal use by U.S. employers. The bill strengthens identity checks, broadens data sharing, and raises penalties for noncompliance to increase enforcement reach. - Workers and families: The bill would require verification before hire or no later than 3 days after hiring, and it would add reverification when work authorization expires within 3 days. A final nonconfirmation would force employers to terminate and report the worker, creating a rebuttable presumption of an illegal-hiring violation. - Employers and small businesses: All employers would need to join E-Verify within 1 year, while federal contractors and designated "critical employers" must enroll sooner and critical firms must comply within 30 days of designation. Nonparticipation and hiring violations carry higher civil fines, new criminal penalties up to $30,000 per unauthorized worker, and repeat-offender debarment procedures. - Federal operations and program design: The bill would expand information sharing among DHS, SSA, IRS, and Treasury, require DHS recommendations to simplify the Form I-9 within 9 months, add identity-theft safeguards and digital-photo checks, create a small business demonstration for rural or internet-poor areas, and set up an Employer Compliance Inspection Center to centralize audits and penalties. ## Cosponsors (12) - Sen. Tuberville, Tommy [R-AL] (R-AL), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT] (R-UT), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX] (R-TX), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Britt, Katie Boyd [R-AL] (R-AL), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Capito, Shelley Moore [R-WV] (R-WV), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Ernst, Joni [R-IA] (R-IA), 2025-03-26T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Moreno, Bernie [R-OH] (R-OH), 2025-05-01T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN), 2025-09-02T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Hagerty, Bill [R-TN] (R-TN), 2025-09-10T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Sheehy, Tim [R-MT] (R-MT), 2025-10-09T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Wicker, Roger F. [R-MS] (R-MS), 2026-03-10T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Identity theft law expanded: benefit, low. If enacted, the bill would expand the federal identity‑theft crime to cover using another person's identity to help hire or hide unauthorized workers. That would make such misuse of identity documents a federal identity‑theft offense under existing law. - Immediate actions after nonconfirmation: cost, high. If enacted, employers who get a final E‑Verify nonconfirmation would have to immediately end that person's employment, recruitment, or referral. Employers would also have to give information the Secretary requires to help immigration enforcement. USCIS would send a weekly list to ICE with each nonc… - Higher fines and prison risks: cost, high. If enacted, the bill would raise civil and criminal penalties for illegal hiring. Criminal fines could reach up to $30,000 per unauthorized person and repeat pattern violators could face 1 to 10 years in prison. Civil penalty ranges would increase across multiple violation classes (for example, ran… - New mandatory E‑Verify checks: mixed, high. If enacted, the bill would make E‑Verify permanent and expand who must use it. All federal executive agencies and federal contractors would have to use E‑Verify. The Secretary would list critical employers within 7 days and those employers would have 30 days to start. Employers would have to verify… - Stronger ID checks and photos: mixed, high. If enacted, E‑Verify would use more official records and photos to confirm identity and work authorization. The system would show issuer photos when available and have temporary steps when a photo is missing. DHS would be required to build tools to flag likely identity theft and allow audits and in… - New employer compliance center: mixed, medium. If enacted, DHS would create an Employer Compliance Inspection Center to centralize I‑9 audits and worksite enforcement. Agencies would share no‑match letters and earnings suspense file data and set up an interagency information program within one year. The center would coordinate investigations in… ## Related bills - 119-s-1071: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 - 119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 - 119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 - 119-s-3752: SAVE America Act - 119-s-587: Death Tax Repeal Act of 2025 - 119-s-186: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2025 ## Sources - [119-s-1151 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1151) ## Related - [119-s-1071: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1071) - [119-s-2296: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2296) - [119-s-4784: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4784) - [119-s-3752: SAVE America Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3752) - [119-s-587: Death Tax Repeal Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-587) - [119-s-186: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-186) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1151 (as of 2026-08-11).