Today, Los Angeles County supervisors voted to explore requiring local contractors to participate in E-Verify as a condition of doing business with the county. According to the motion agreed to today, the Board will review the E-Verify system and report back in two weeks with recommendations. Los Angeles County is one of the largest counties in the nation, consisting of 88 cities and 10 million residents (as of July 2008). Most of the cities contract with the County to provide a wide array of municipal services.

On the California state level, E-Verify has come under attack by legislators who question its effectiveness and have put forth a bill which would prohibit the state, or a city, county or special district from requiring employers to use E-Verify as a condition of receiving a government contract, applying for or maintaining a business license, or as a penalty for violating licensing or similar laws. The bill (AB 1288) recently passed a Senate vote and now moves back to the Assembly where it was introduced.

In the meantime, E-Verify remains a voluntary program for employers in California. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, California has the second largest  number of employers enrolled in E-Verify at 10,476 as of July 2009. Arizona leads the charge with roughly 31,000 employers enrolled.