Want to reduce the number of people living and working in this state illegally? One obvious solution is to decrease the number of jobs available to them. The E-Verify system is a good first step in that regard. It allows an employer to electronically verify whether a potential employee is legally eligible to work in this country, although it does not verify a job applicant's actual immigration status.

However, at present, only state and municipal governments - and their contractors - are required to use E-Verify. (And as of September, the Obama administration began requiring federal contractors to use E-Verify as well.) But think what a dent could be made in the job market for illegal labor if private companies, too, were required to use E-Verify.

That's the thinking behind a bill introduced last week in the state Legislature by state Rep. Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill). Styled the Georgia Employer and Worker Protection Act (HB 1259), and cosponsored by Rep. Don Parson (R-east Cobb), it would require all businesses in Georgia to sign an affidavit agreeing to participate in E-Verify in order to obtain a business license or occupational tax license.

"I think it's pretty obvious to everyone that illegal workers are getting jobs in the private sector," Reese said. "Get your house painted and look at who shows up. The bill is still a work in progress and is changing, but something like this is critical as we find out Georgia is No. 1 in the country for illegal residents. We're finally number one in something, but that certainly isn't what we want. So something has to be done to make sure we protect these jobs for those who are legal residents, especially in this economy."

Reese's bill would dovetail with another filed by Rep. Rick Austin (R-Demorest) a couple of weeks ago that proposes severe consequences for public entities that knowingly employ illegal workers. If found guilty, a local government entity would lose its state funding and matching funds for a year. And if a state agency were to knowingly employ illegal workers, it would lose 10 percent of its state budget the following year.

Austin's bill was prompted in part by recent MDJ stories reporting allegations from a watchdog group allied with the national bricklayer's union that a subcontractor working on construction of the new Cobb Superior Court building was using illegal labor. The stories also prompted Commission Chairman Sam Olens to ask federal immigration officials to determine whether anyone should be held criminally responsible in the case.

As for Reese's bill, talks are still under way to determine what the penalty should be for breaking that law, should it pass. In other words, if a small business happens to break the law, it should not face crippling fines or license revocation, he said.

The Reese and Austin bills would work in concert in an effort to narrow the supply of jobs available to those here illegally. If they or something like them passed, they would not by themselves turn off the spigot of illegal immigration to Georgia.

But along with the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act passed by the Legislature in 2006, they would do much to achieve that end - while at the same time freeing up thousands of jobs to be filled by the state's legal citizens.