Posted on 06/15/2004 5:29:58 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - A bill allowing an estimated 2 million illegal immigrant drivers in California to get legal driver's licenses cleared a Senate committee Tuesday, which was the bill's first hurdle in the Legislature.
The latest attempt to make illegal immigrants eligible for the licenses, the bill would require applicants who cannot prove legal residency in California to be fingerprinted, undergo background checks and get adult sponsors. Illegal immigrants would pay $146 for a license to cover extra costs of guaranteeing that licenses aren't used as a tool for terrorists to move freely in California.
Senate Transportation Committee Democrats favored the bill, while Republicans opposed the fourth attempt since 2001 by Sen. Gil Cedillo to overturn a 1994 ban on licenses for those who cannot prove they live legally in California. The bill passed 6-3.
"The challenge of leadership is to do what is right even it's not popular," Cedillo told committee members Tuesday when reminded that 70 percent of Californians opposed the Los Angeles Democrat's similar 2003 bill that was passed and signed by former Gov. Gray Davis only to be repealed last December under pressure from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Davis vetoed Cedillo's bill in 2002. In 2001, Cedillo withdrew it from the governor's desk after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks revealed that some of the terrorists had California driver's licenses. Florida lawmakers also recently abandoned efforts to pass an immigrant driver's license bill after law enforcement officials raised security concerns.
The Democrat's newest attempt must pass the full Senate and Assembly by Aug. 31 and be signed by Schwarzenegger by Sept. 30 to become law.
Schwarzenegger has already expressed reservations about the bill, saying he prefers that licenses be specially marked to indicate the holder is an illegal immigrant.
As in previous years, the hearing and the partisan committee votes revealed the popular rifts in California over illegal immigration that comes largely from Central America and Mexico. Conservatives, liberals, labor unions, religious groups, police officers and population control advocates sparred again Tuesday over rights owed a largely poor population residing in the state illegally, but working menial jobs unwanted by most citizens.
"They are embedded in the foundation of our economy," said Cedillo, who noted that 90 percent of the state's agricultural workers, 75 percent of its maids and 65 percent of its gardeners are illegal immigrants. "This is a reality we must accept."
Backers of the license law portrayed it largely as a public safety issue to test, license and insure hundreds of thousands of Californians who drive without any of the three, while opponents dubbed it a reward for people who have broken the law to live in the state. Republican activists also vowed to mount an initiative campaign to overturn the law if the Legislature passed it. Adding to the complexity, Hispanic civil rights advocates oppose the bill, saying it offers illegal immigrants no confidentiality with authorities regarding their illegal status.
"Without confidentiality, this thing will dissuade people from applying," said Francisco Estrada, lobbyist for the Los Angeles-based Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Under the bill, citizens lacking a U.S. Social Security number would have to provide a passport or card issued by their consulate to apply, identifying themselves as illegal residents.
"This bill is really worse than the last one that was signed into law," said former Sen. Richard Mountjoy, R-Monrovia. He said an adult could sponsor an unlimited number of illegal residents for driver's licenses and predicted that a court challenge would throw out the extra costs required of applicants for background checks.
Mountjoy helped pass a bill in 1993 that overturned California's traditional practice - still used in 10 states - of not requiring proof of citizenship to get a drivers' license. The bill, authored by Assemblyman Alfred Alquist, D-San Jose, passed with support from Republicans and Democrats.
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On the Net:
Read SB1160 at http://www.legislature.ca.gov
I guess a vote for Arnie will have been a vote for Busty , in that case. How ironic. ;-)
The great congressman from Colorado Tom Tranchero (?) proposed a law saying that drivers licenses from states that allow illegals to obtain one would not be valid for airport screening.
Most all the elite politicos in this country are bent on legalizing illegal aliens, and undermining our borders and sovereignty. This is just part of the plan. Incrementally, one step at a time.
That's why it also needs to be a different color.
Maybe design such licenses in a portrait format to make the difference undeniable.
If caught signing up to vote or doing so, start with two mandatory years in prison.
I get a kick out of the background check part. By definition, any complete background check is going to have to go to another country, unless the illegal has lived here for a looonnng time. I've been involved in this - some of these third and almost third world countries practically laugh in the investigators' faces when they try to get information. Or just "never get around to it."
I agree, there would be nothing legal or identifying about the ID except for driving.
It should be a different color, require a bond to be posted and theirs should be portrait instead of our landscape format.
On a local talk radio show there was a comment that a thorough background check costs several hundred dollars not $140 extra as in this bill.
The Democrats stick a thumb in the eye of 70% of Californians. They don't get it - Arnold signs this into law, he's toast in 2006. In the meantime, we'll take this to a referendum if they really push ahead with this handout to illegal aliens.
If these loons pull this off....
"NOT A US CITIZEN" need to be stamped across the front in big bold letters along with..."NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE"
A lot of places are so lax that all they require for a voter is the DL. And don't think for a minute that dems don't have that in mind.
Why are folks shocked. Arnie is a RINO.
He is gonna "reluctantly" campaign for the GOP.
California had a real chance to fix their problems when the got that idiot Davis outa office...instead they put in a Kennedy.
No we don't.
Allow me...
The license should not be acceptable for any show of proof or for use on any application for government or state use beyond driving issued to an illegal alien.
You do not need a driver's license or a state ID card to register to vote in California. You can pick up a voter registration form at a variety of venues, fill it out, and mail it in.
There is a space on the form to fill in your license or ID number ...BUT... the following is also on the same form:
CA Driver's License or CA ID Card Number: No person shall be denied the right to register because of his or her failure to furnish a California driver's license or California identification card number. (Optional)
Folks, in 1994 sixty percent of us said NOOOOOOOOOOOO! (Gov. Dufus worked out a deal to get our Prop 187 killed)
Last year we said NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! again and replaced Dufus.
Today seventy percent of us say NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! means NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Everything you say is true, but the Democrats figure they can get them to vote for them some way and the President of Mexico considers America an expected revenue source from illegals to be depended on back in his country.
It is a real issue.
Not a real one. If they want an illegal driving alien card, fine.
Call the governor's office and ask them why Arnold wants this bill. They have a funny way of answering direct questions.
And that's a bad thing?
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