[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2359 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2359
To require certification of employment eligibility compliance in annual
reporting of certain securities issuers, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 21, 2025
Mr. Moreno introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require certification of employment eligibility compliance in annual
reporting of certain securities issuers, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening Accountability for
Employers Hiring Individuals and Reforming Enforcement Act'' or the
``SAFE HIRE Act''.
SEC. 2. EXECUTIVE CERTIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY COMPLIANCE.
Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78m)
is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(t) Certification Requirements.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Covered employer.--The term `covered
employer' means any issuer of a security registered
under section 12 or person required to file a report
under section 15(d).
``(B) Internal controls.--The term `internal
controls' means policies, procedures, and systems
reasonably designed to--
``(i) ensure compliance with employment
eligibility verification requirements under
Federal law, including section 274A of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1324a);
``(ii) identify and prevent the use of
fraudulent or unauthorized documentation in the
hiring process; and
``(iii) promptly detect, report, and
remediate any known violations of such
requirements.
``(C) Principal executive officer.--The term
`principal executive officer' has the meaning given in
section 229.402(a)(3) of title 17, Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor regulation.
``(D) Principal human resources officer.--The term
`principal human resources officer' means the most
senior officer of a covered employer with
responsibility for human capital management, including
employment eligibility policies and compliance.
``(2) Certification.--The principal executive officer and
the principal human resources officer (or officers performing
similar functions) of each covered employer shall submit with
each annual report filed under subsection (a) or section 15(d)
the following:
``(A) A certification that--
``(i) the certifying officers have reviewed
the report;
``(ii) based on the knowledge of the
certifying officers, the report does not
contain any untrue statement of a material fact
or omit to state a material fact necessary to
make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances, not misleading;
``(iii) based on the knowledge of the
certifying officers, the report fairly
presents, in all material respects, the
employment practices of the issuer, including
the number and legal work status of persons
employed;
``(iv) the certifying officers--
``(I) are responsible for
establishing and maintaining internal
controls with respect to employment
eligibility verification (including
Form I-9 compliance and E-Verify);
``(II) have designed such internal
controls to ensure that material
information relating to compliance with
section 274A of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) is
made known to such officers by others
within the company;
``(III) have evaluated the
effectiveness of the internal controls
described in subclause (II) not less
than 90 days prior to the submission of
the report; and
``(IV) have presented in the report
their conclusions about the
effectiveness of such internal controls
based on their evaluation; and
``(v) the certifying officers have
disclosed to the Department of Homeland
Security and the Department of Justice--
``(I) all significant deficiencies
in the internal controls of the covered
employer which could adversely affect
the ability of the covered employer to
ensure compliance with Federal
employment eligibility requirements;
and
``(II) any known material violation
of section 274A of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a),
including the employment of
unauthorized aliens, as defined in
subsection (h) of that section.
``(B) A list of all disclosed significant
deficiencies and known material violations described in
subparagraph (A)(v).
``(3) Criminal penalties for false certification.--
``(A) In general.--It shall be unlawful for a
principal executive officer or principal human
resources officer (or other officer performing similar
functions) of a covered employer to--
``(i) certify any statement described in
paragraph (2)(A) knowing that the report does
not comply with the requirements therein; or
``(ii) willfully fail to make the
certification under paragraph (2)(A) or submit
the list of disclosed significant deficiencies
and known material violations pursuant to
paragraph (2)(B).
``(B) Penalties.--
``(i) In general.--Any individual who
violates subparagraph (A) shall be fined not
more than $1,000,000, imprisoned not more than
10 years, or both.
``(ii) Enhanced penalty.--Any individual
who violates subparagraph (A) with respect to
the employment of unauthorized aliens in
violation of section 274A(a)(1) of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C.
1324a(a)(1)) shall be fined not more than
$5,000,000, imprisoned not more than 20 years,
or both.''.
SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION AND RULEMAKING.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, in consultation with
the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General, shall--
(1) prescribe rules requiring the inclusion of the
certification described in section 13(t) of the Securities and
Exchange Act of 1934, as added by section 2, within the annual
reports filed on Form 10-K or any successor form;
(2) establish requirements for public availability of such
certifications; and
(3) promulgate any regulations necessary to carry out the
purposes of this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
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