Huffines Will Require E-Verify on Future Grants the Comptroller's Office Administers
Comptroller Don Huffines said Nov. 12 that future grants administered by his office must include E-Verify and immigration-law certifications, with immediate-termination authority written into the agreements.
Texas Comptroller Don Huffines announced on Nov. 12 that his office will require recipients of future grants it administers to use the federal E-Verify system and to comply with U.S. immigration law for the term of those agreements. The official release, issued from Austin, says the new terms are meant to ensure that taxpayer dollars "do not subsidize the hiring of unauthorized workers or support organizations that ignore federal immigration law."
The release's headline is broader than its operative language. It is titled as a requirement for "every entity receiving state grant money." In the body, the office says the requirements "will be standard terms in future grants administered by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts," that the agency will incorporate the certifications "into its solicitations and agreements going forward," and that it is writing immediate-termination authority into those agreements to enforce the certification. This account follows that body language. The release does not say the rule has been adopted by every other state agency, and it does not list a dollar amount of Comptroller grants that will be covered.
"Texans work hard for their money, and their tax dollars will never subsidize illegal aliens taking jobs from Texans," Huffines said. "If you want state funding, you will verify every hire and follow federal immigration law. This helps ensure legal workers get fair wages."
Under the new rules, the release says, any entity receiving state grant funds must certify that it will use the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system "to confirm the employment eligibility of all applicable personnel"; that it will not knowingly employ unauthorized workers; that it will maintain strict compliance with all federal immigration laws for the entire term of the grant; and that it will immediately notify the Comptroller's office upon discovering any violation related to employment eligibility or immigration compliance. The phrase "all applicable personnel" is the office's. The release does not define that phrase further.
The Comptroller's office said the change grew out of a performance review Huffines launched in August. "It was discovered that no previous Comptroller had ensured that the agency's contractors and grant recipients comply with state and federal immigration laws," the release says. "Huffines is closing that gap." That is the office's account of its own review. Dock Line has not independently audited prior Comptroller grant agreements. The same office recently disclosed problems in its own hiring paperwork, as we reported in Texas Comptroller Says Its Own Hiring Records Failed Federal I-9 Rules for Up to 20 Years. Taxpayers May Owe $5 Million. Those are different records: one set is the agency's own I-9 files; this announcement is about terms it says it will write into future grants.
The office places the rules inside what it calls the Taxpayer First Project, described as a reform of tax administration "built on fairness, transparency, and respect for the taxpayer." It also says the E-Verify terms are "the latest in a series of new standard terms Huffines is writing into Comptroller contracts and grants," and that more will be announced in the coming weeks. As of this review, the agency's public executive-orders page lists other Huffines orders, including earlier terms on grant money, but it does not list a dated executive-order PDF for this E-Verify announcement. The public record here is the Nov. 12 news release.
Public money is not a gift without conditions. A state official may attach lawful terms to grants his office awards, and taxpayers are entitled to know what those terms are, what they cover, and what they do not. They are also entitled to the narrower fact: this is a policy for future Comptroller-administered grants, announced as going forward, with termination language the office says it will write into the agreements. It is not a new statute, and it is not, on the face of this release, a completed rewrite of every grant in Texas government. "The labourer is worthy of his hire" (Luke 10:7). Wages belong to people lawfully employed, and the rules that claim to protect that principle should be written clearly enough to be enforced.
