The Legal Workforce Act, which creates a national electronic employment verification system, is in the hands of the House Judiciary Committee, where bill markups are to be finished Wednesday. Authored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the Legal Workforce Act is praised by supporters for streamlining the employment verification system and reducing fraud, but the bill is not without its critics.

Under current law, employers must adhere by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which requires all employers to verify work eligibility with the I-9 form; however, this process can be notoriously confusing, says Mike Aitken, director of government affairs for the Society of Human Resource Management. Twenty-four documents are acceptable for employment verification, Aitken confirms, but that can be difficult to manage and also opens the process to fraud.

"The problem with the current I-9 regulations is it's a paper-based system, and people are really good at creating fraudulent documents," Aitken says.