On April 1, 2010, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed a bill into law requiring Utah employers to use E-Verify to ensure they are hiring legal workers. Utah joins Arizona, Mississippi and South Carolina as states that require all employers to verify their workers. Another 10 states require certain groups of employers, usually public agencies and contractors, to verify workers using E-Verify, and nine states have laws reinforcing federal law in other ways.

The bill was supported by a broad base of constituencies which were motivated by the realization that E-Verify helps protect the citizens of Utah from identity theft and fraud.

The provisions of the bill are as follows:

1. Participation is voluntary for the first year (to give businesses time to enroll and adjust their hiring procedures)
2. Participation is mandatory as of July 1, 2011.
3. The law applies to employers with 15 or more workers.
4. Employers of legal guest workers would not have to use E-Verify.

An interesting point to note is that there are no penalties for non-compliance. Instead of sanctioning employers, the state will provide positive incentives for compliance including exemption from penalities under state law should a company using a status verification system inadvertently hire an illegal worker. The state will also maintain a list of those enrolled in the program to encourage the public to monitor which businesses follow the rules and reward them with their business.