Posted on 08/19/2006 6:43:58 AM PDT by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO -- Sen. Gil Cedillo said Friday that he has not given up on his eighth attempt to enact legislation that would let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses, even though his latest bill is bottled up in committee with time running out on lawmakers' 2006 session.
"There are a myriad of ways to do this," the Los Angeles Democrat said in an interview. "We're going to find one of them to do it."
Cedillo has been trying for eight years to overturn 1993 legislation that prohibits the state from issuing licenses to drivers who cannot prove they're in the country legally. Gov. Gray Davis signed one of his bill in 2003, but it was repealed by lawmakers after Davis was recalled by voters.
Opponents contend the Cedillo legislation would raise security concerns and reward illegal immigrants. But Cedillo says many of the estimated 2.5 million illegal immigrants in California already drive.
It would make highways safer if they passed driving tests and showed proof that they had auto insurance to get licenses, he says.
His latest legislation is stuck in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which held its last scheduled meeting of the year on Thursday without acting on the measure.
The committee's chairwoman, Assemblywoman Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, said she shelved the bill because it wouldn't get dispassionate consideration in an election year.
"It has come to a point where rational, productive debate on the issue on the floor is now highly unlikely," she said in a statement.
Some Democrats had expressed reluctance to vote on the bill, saying it would provide campaign fodder for Republicans and lead to another veto by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who turned down two earlier versions of the measure.
But Cedillo said Democrats shouldn't "gauge our values based on the tenor of the debate."
"Our convictions transcend that," he added. "We have an obligation to develop good public policy. We have a duty to vote on that policy, and we have a duty to move that policy to the governor's desk."
He said he had commitments from Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, to try to find a way to get the bill -- or another measure with similar provisions -- to Schwarzenegger's desk before lawmakers adjourn their 2006 on Aug. 31.
Nunez said he had agreed to work with Cedillo to try to fashion a bill that could pass this year, but he said he opposes provisions of the current Cedillo legislation that would implement the federal Real ID Act, which he said would be costly for the state.
He also said he didn't want the Cedillo bill to give ammunition to opponents of "comprehensive immigration reform."
"I don't want to see the extreme right fanning the flames of anti-immigrant hysteria to defeat this measure and defeat the overall goal of trying to grant legalization to undocumented persons," he said.
The Real ID Act, passed last year by Congress to beef up security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, sets stringent identification requirements for driver's license applicants.
Applicants would have to submit birth records, photo identification, proof of their addresses and, if they have them, Social Security numbers. And the Department of Motor Vehicles would have to verify the applicants' information.
An Assembly analysis of the act and Cedillo's bill says there is currently no efficient say to verify many of the documents required by the act.
The act also would require the DMV to suspend programs that allow good drivers to renew their licenses by mail or on the Internet, forcing them to go to a DMV office to get a renewal, the analysis said.
If states don't adopt the act's provisions by May 12, 2008, their licenses won't be recognized as valid identification documents to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.
But the National Conference of State Legislatures is demanding that Congress either appropriate money to cover the states' costs of implementing the act or rescind it.
The act allows states to issue licenses to illegal immigrants but requires those licenses to be of a different design or color than standard licenses. They also could not be used as federally recognized identification documents.
On the Net:
Read the bill, SB1160, at www.senate.ca.gov
Sen. Gil Cedillo said Friday that he has not given up on his eighth attempt to enact legislation that would let illegal immigrants get driver's licenses, even though his latest bill is bottled up in committee with time running out on lawmakers' 2006 session.Emphasis mine.
What's that saying about stupidity? Repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?
cedillio should be deported to gitmo. he's a real bastard!
This is a blatent attempt to hide illegals.
IF A VISITOR is legal in the usa the 1949 convention on traffic signed by the USA and other nations creates international recognition of a nations drivers license in signator countries.
The REALL ISSUE: You have to have the international driving permit document WITH your foreign DL. This means a police officer would be able to ID you AND it means you can't disguise your visitor status from potential employers.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT DRIVING, THIS IS ABOUT CONCEALMENT.
The have the ability to drive as a matter of law RIGHT NOW.
see cases on the subject FYI:
Laina ESKEW, Plaintiff,
v.
Brian S. YOUNG, Keith Burroughes and Cruise America, Inc., Defendants.
No. 94-CV-807-WDS.
United States District Court, S.D. Illinois.
February 9, 1998
AND
834 N.E.2d 273
64 Mass. App. Ct. 499
Wilson ORTIZ
v.
NORTH AMHERST AUTO RENTAL, INC.
No. 03-P-1467.
Appeals Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.
Argued November 17, 2004.
Decided September 12, 2005.
the 1949 International Traffic Convention allows for international driving permits. The already can drive legally. really.
This is not about driving since illegals can drive legally with a license from their home country AND the international permit. (use it myself abroad, you get it from AAA for a few dollars, or free if you are a member)
This is about legislating concealment.
More laws!! Less law enforcement!!
Drunks would drive fewer miles if the goobermint mandated a bar in every neighborhood.
Many rob banks. Shouldn't we open up a branch nearer their homes? It would cut down on those high-speed chases that endanger the lives of good people.
A valid mexican license and international driving permit makes them legal in california driving now.
This is about california legislating concealment of illegals. (aka CRIMINAL aliens)
Why not make it more attractive for illegals to come here? California can handle another 5 million before they go completely broke. Why should citizens be able to put food on the table and a roof over their head when Barbara Steisand needs her grass cut and hedges clipped at a reasonable price?
One bill Gil BumP
why can't the phony immigrants and criminal aliens just use their Mexican license? perfectly legal in the US!
We need to be just as concerned about all the vote fraud we're sure to see as they register under who knows how many names........LULAC and the rest of those commie organizations must just be laughing their arses off at how stupid we are in this country to allow this idiocy to continue.
One bill Gill needs to have his car totaled by an illegal and have the guy walk without even a ticket because the cops won't touch them!
Essentially what will happen is tht every traffic stop will cause your fingerprint to be taken on the scene.
(many states have that requirement when you are stopped driving without a DL)
I do believe that if it happens to me I'll refuse on the grounds it's a violation of my 4th Amendment "rights to privacy"......our fingerprints are our "personal property" and no agent of the gov't has a right to demand that property be relinquished over an administrative violation........what's next, they get to cut off a fingertip if they catch you on a DUI?
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