It seems to make sense to me. If the driver is not the owner, the vehicle shouldn't be impounded. That only punishes the owner and does not punish the driver. The impounding should be a punishment for an owner-driver. Non-owner drivers need to be arrested for driving without a liscence (or insurance) and should serve an appropriate term in jail. For example, what if the vehicle in question was a rental and driven by someone who didn't rent it? Should the car be taken from the rental company as punishment without wrongdoing?
Existing law allows 30-day impounds when an unlicensed driver is found driving a car, whether it belongs to him or not; there are probably exceptions for stolen cars and perhaps some others. This is a strong disincentive for people to lend their cars to people without drivers licenses.
This proposed law exempts cars from impounding when they're driven by unlicensed drivers who happen to be either illegal aliens or younger teenagers. Cars driven by all other unlicensed drivers would still be subject to impounding. Why should laws be relaxed for only two categories of unlicensed drivers, especially when those people are the least likely to have ever been licensed to drive and are probably more dangerous than former drunk drivers who are no longer inebriated?
A logical consequence of this proposed law, if chaptered, would be people with drivers licenses lending cars (long term) to illegal aliens while retaining the registration so the cars could never be impounded. This would lead unnecessarily/unfairly to higher insurance rates for everybody else.
For example, what if the vehicle in question was a rental and driven by someone who didn't rent it? Should the car be taken from the rental company as punishment without wrongdoing?
Sure, why not (unless the law has special exemptions)? It's not really "punishment" for the rental company. The person who rented the car showed his own license and signed an agreement that nobody else would drive. If the renter fails to return the car on time, he'll have to pay for the extended rental, which could easily be over $1000 for the 30-day impound period. Or, the rental agency can claim the car is stolen, but the renter might not prefer the higher penalties.