SACRAMENTO (AP) The California Assembly voted to repeal a law allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses Monday, setting the stage for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fulfill a key campaign pledge just two weeks after taking office.
Facing widespread public opposition and a threatened March ballot initiative to kill the law, the Assembly voted 64-9 to overturn what it passed only three months ago. The Senate took similar action on Nov. 24 with a 33-0 vote.
The law which had been set to go into effect Jan. 1 would have let an estimated 2 million illegal immigrant motorists apply for driver's licenses with taxpayer identification numbers instead of Social Security numbers.
Passed in September and signed by former Gov. Gray Davis, the law aimed to end a 10-year ban on driver's licenses for California's undocumented immigrants, most from Mexico and Central America.
Schwarzenegger was expected to quickly sign the bill. Before being elected in the Oct. 7 recall election against Davis, he promised to repeal the law within his first 100 days. Immediately after being inaugurated, he called the Legislature into special session to consider it.
The new Republican governor, an immigrant himself, repeatedly criticized the law as the ``wrong way'' to handle the issue. He has promised to help legislators craft a new law with more security measures and background checks for applicants.
State lawmakers, fearing voters would overturn the law unless they took action, took just 21 hours last week to vote for the repeal in both the Senate and a key Assembly committee, sending it to the Assembly for Monday's final legislative action. AP-WS-12-01-03 1854EST