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During the 2005 state legislative sessions, at least 78
bills have been introduced in 28 different states that address
immigrants’ ability to obtain a driver’s license. As in previous years,
the proposals regarding driver’s licenses are broadly diverse: some
bills would expand immigrants’ eligibility for licenses, and others
would restrict immigrants’ ability to obtain them. Also as in previous
years, restrictive bills outnumber those that would expand immigrants’
access to licenses.
Due to the passage of the REAL ID Act in May
2005, many bills lost their traction, since state legislatures realized
that they would have to overhaul their driver’s license systems to
comply with REAL ID. (For more on the REAL ID Act, see “REAL
ID Enacted: Imposes Rigid Driver’s License Requirements,”
Immigrants’ Rights Update,
June 30, 2005, p. 1.)
However, Arkansas passed a law, which becomes effective Jan. 1, 2006,
that implements many of the provisions in the REAL ID Act. The
California legislature, too, passed a bill that would implement the REAL
ID Act. However, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he will veto
the bill because federal authorities have yet to issue regulations or
other guidance for implementing REAL ID.
Twenty-six bills
that have been or are being considered by different state legislatures
in 2005 would expand immigrants’ eligibility for driver’s licenses. Of
these, thirteen have been rejected, ten are still pending, and three
have been signed into law.
Most of these bills
would eliminate the requirement that applicants be lawfully present in
the U.S. in order to qualify for receiving a driver’s license. Other
examples of expansive provisions include allowing applicants who do not
have a Social Security number (SSN) to submit alternatives to the SSN
when applying for a driver’s license, expanding the list of documents
that can be used by applicants to prove their identity to include
foreign documents, and creating a temporary driver’s license for
applicants who are not lawfully present in the U.S.
In Virginia, a new
law allows applicants who possess a foreign driver’s license to have the
driver education requirement waived. In Texas, a new law authorizes the
Dept. of Motor Vehicles to enter into an agreement with a foreign
country under which a nonresident who is 18 years of age or older and
who holds a driver’s license from that country that is similar to a
Texas-issued driver’s license may receive a Texas driver’s license, and
a person who is 18 or older and who has in his or her possession a Texas
driver’s license may receive a license similar to a Texas driver’s
license issued from the foreign country. In addition, Maine passed a
law that codifies an already existing policy that allows applicants
without an SSN to obtain a driver’s license if they can provide written
proof that they are ineligible for an SSN. Eleven states currently
allow immigrants to obtain a driver’s license regardless of their
immigration status.
Of the 48 bills intended to restrict
immigrants’ eligibility for driver’s licenses, 24 have been rejected, 19
are still pending, and 5 have been signed into law (one of these is the
REAL ID–related law enacted by Arkansas). Examples of restrictive
provisions in these bills include requiring that driver’s license
applicants be lawfully present in the U.S. in order to qualify for
receiving a driver’s license, requiring that an immigrant’s driver’s
license expire with his or her immigration status, prohibiting the
acceptance of foreign documents (including passports) as proof of
identity, and creating a “driving privilege card” for applicants who are
ineligible for an SSN.
Lawmakers in ten states attempted for the
first time in those states to impose a lawful presence requirement on
applicants for driver’s licenses; such a requirement has already been
rejected in five of these states, but one of them has passed a lawful
presence bill. As of July 1, 2005, Montana requires that driver’s
licenses be issued only to applicants who are lawfully in the U.S.
Lawmakers in Utah were also successful in imposing such a requirement,
but that bill also created a “driving privilege card” for all other
applicants, including those not lawfully present in the U.S., who are
ineligible for an SSN. (For more information about Utah’s new law, see
“Utah Creates ‘Driving Privilege Card’ for
Applicants without SSNs,”
Immigrants’ Rights Update, Mar. 31, 2005, p. 3.) A second bill
also was signed into law in Utah that simply complements the law that
creates a driving privilege card by officially requiring that an
applicant be lawfully present in the U.S. in order to be eligible for a
regular driver’s license. Illinois passed a law that allows state and
local officials to accept consular identification cards as a form of
identification but specifically prohibits consular ID cards from being
used as identification for driver’s license purposes. This requirement
codifies existing policy.
In addition, four other bills were introduced
that could be called “neutral.” Bills introduced in Indiana and
Virginia would (1) authorize studies regarding possible driver’s
license–related policies that would especially affect noncitizens and
(2) specify which documents are acceptable to prove U.S. citizenship.
More detail on driver’s license bills
introduced in 2005 is available by clicking
here.
—By
Tyler Moran, NILC policy
analyst
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