The newspaper story prompted anger among state legislators. That the issue is a hot topic in the northeast shows how widespread the use of illegal workers has become across the country. Nationally?EUR??,,????'??+and in many state and local jurisdictions?EUR??,,????'??+legislation may soon impact contractors who rely on immigrant labor to keep costs down.

One Massachusetts contractor interviewed on National Public Radio said that immigrant workers are among the most productive in the industry, but that new laws might prompt him to think twice about ?EUR??,,????'??hiring anyone who has a foreign accent.?EUR??,,????'??

?EUR??,,????'??A lot of the guys we?EUR??,,????'???re hiring now are Brazilian,?EUR??,,????'?? he said. ?EUR??,,????'??They?EUR??,,????'???re some of the best workers I?EUR??,,????'???ve seen.?EUR??,,????'??

The new legislation would require employers for state-funded contracts to use a federal database to confirm that workers have legitimate papers. Contractors who fail to check could be heavily fined. The law was proposed by Republicans in the Massachusetts state Senate.

Responding to the Boston Globe story that sparked the debate, Massachusetts Senate minority whip Bruce E. Tarr and Senator Scott P. Brown of Wrentham said their bill would bar non-compliant companies from doing business with the state.

“It’s absolutely absurd that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would be a partner in the illegal act of employing someone who has no authority to be in this country,” Tarr said.

Currently, federal law requires all employers to examine the documents, such as green cards or Social Security cards, that establish an employee’s identity and eligibility to work in the United States. But the law only requires that the documents “appear to be genuine” and stresses that employers are not expected to be “document experts.”

Those loose standards, say construction industry specialists, enabled contractors to use undocumented workers on projects that received millions of dollars from the state.

The bill?EUR??,,????'???s chance of becoming law is difficult to gauge. The state?EUR??,,????'???s minority Republicans would need significant support from the Democrat majority.