http://fox40.trb.com/news/ktxl-090203driverslicense,0,6207551.story?coll=ktxl-news-1
Assembly Oks Bill Allowing Illegals To Get Drivers' Licenses
The Bill Would Allow Undocumented Immigrants To Submit A State-approved Form Of Identification To Apply For A Drivers License
September 2, 2003
SACRAMENTO -- A bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses, an issue that has worked its way into the debate surrounding the attempt to recall Gov. Gray Davis, passed the state Assembly on Tuesday.
In a debate in English and Spanish, Republicans and Democrats argued about whether the bill would harm or help public safety before approving it by a 44-30 vote and sending it back to the Senate for consideration of amendments.
The legislation, by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, would help undocumented immigrants get drivers' licenses by allowing them to submit a federal taxpayer identification number or some other state-approved form of identification to the Department of Motor Vehicles instead of a Social Security number.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service issues taxpayer identification numbers to tax filers who cannot qualify for Social Security numbers, which authorize a person to work legally in the United States.
Davis has vetoed two similar bills since he became governor, citing law enforcement's concerns about the legislation. After he vetoed the bill last year, the Legislature's Latino caucus refused to endorse him for re-election.
Last month, at an anti-recall rally in Los Angeles, the governor said he would sign the latest bill "in a heartbeat" if it reached his desk.
Aides said he wanted to sign the bill all along and that a number of law enforcement officials are now comfortable with the legislation.
Republicans have accused Davis of agreeing to sign the bill to try to win Hispanic votes to defeat the recall and contend it would raise security concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"Why is he willing to put the state at risk, the country at risk, the electorate at risk? It's his last grasp at keeping the governorship," said Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, who claimed the bill would "open the road" to a movement to reclaim parts of the southwestern United States for Mexico.
Another opponent, Assemblyman Doug La Malfa, R-Biggs, said the bill was "an invitation for voter fraud. Why don't we just rescind the need for citizenship? That's where we are going with this."
But Democrats said up to 2 million illegal immigrants are driving without proper licenses already and that someone who wants to obtain a fake drivers' license can get one now on big-city street corners.
Cedillo's bill, they said, would improve public safety by helping ensure that all drivers pass a driving exam and have insurance.
"I want to have everybody behind the wheel to have been tested and I want them to be carrying insurance," said Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, D-Los Angeles. "And I don't want any more of this foolishness that this is about homeland security.
"What this is about is there are certain people you just don't want to have on the road, to have any rights," she told Republicans. "That is just wrong."
Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said the bill would actually help law enforcement by giving them a way to identify illegal immigrants.
"If an individual is here in the country illegally, law enforcement has no means of identifying that person," he said. "But if the bill passes we'll have a database on persons who currently cannot otherwise be tracked."
Assemblyman Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, contended the bill's opponents were motivated by "such hatred, such vehemence against these people that we cannot trust on the road. Yet we entrust our parents, our children, our homes to them. We entrust our food to them. We entrust everything to them except for our rights."
But Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murrieta, said the opposition "had nothing to do with race."
"If you enter this country illegally you're not supposed to be working here," he said. "It's been that way for quite some time."
