Bredesen piqued, may veto license bill

AP via KnoxNews ^ | 3/6/7 | ERIK SCHELZIG

[SmithL]

NASHVILLE — Gov. Phil Bredesen said today he is disappointed the Senate passed an English language driver’s license testing bill and will seriously consider a veto if the House also approves it.

"This is not a bill about illegal immigration, we are already fully on track to not have illegal immigrants get driver’s licenses in Tennessee," Bredesen said. "This is just posturing."

The state Senate voted 22-6 on Monday evening to pass the measure to make English the main language for driver’s license tests.

A bill the Bredesen administration drafted to eliminate a driving certificate program for illegal immigrants passed a House transportation subcommittee Tuesday. The Department of Safety quit issuing the driving certificates last year after federal investigators found rings shuttling in immigrants from other states to get them.

Sen. Bill Ketron — who initially proposed requiring written exams for driver’s licenses be offered only in English — acknowledges that the version which passed the Senate would not change the way the state currently tests prospective drivers.

But the Murfreesboro Republican argued Monday that his bill "sets the right tone of what people want to see in the state of Tennessee."

Bredesen criticized Ketron’s motivations.

"Senator Ketron said this is setting the tone in the state. I agree with him. It is not a good tone," Bredesen said.

Road tests are already given only in English. Examiners determine English comprehension by seeing if they can follow instructions — like turning on a blinker or applying the brakes — before they start driving. Applicants must also be able to read road signs and respond to English questions when they are driving.

Applicants can use translation dictionaries for the written portion of the test, which is also given in Japanese, Korean and Spanish. Interpreters are not allowed to join applicants on the road test.

Ketron’s bill would lock the state into offering the test in only those four languages, stripping the administration of the flexibility to add other languages in the future, Bredesen said.

And as for the explanation that the measure would only make law what is already in practice, Bredesen said: "If that’s all it does, then it really is just posturing."

The Democratic governor also expressed disappointment in the five Senate Democrats who voted for the measure.

Bredesen, a New York native, said he remembered how "open and welcoming" Tennessee was toward outsiders when he first moved to the state more than three decades ago.

"I think that got diminished yesterday," Bredesen said.

Bredesen said he doesn’t expect the bill to pass in the House, but still "made the state a little chillier, and a less friendly place."

Bredesen said he would consider a veto "very, very carefully" if it does pass in the Democratic-controlled House.

The Senate passed a similar bill last year, but it failed in the House. House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, D-Covington, last week accused Ketron of supporting the measure to gain publicity.

The companion bill has been assigned to a subcommittee of the House Transportation Committee. The subcommittee has not yet set a date to consider the measure.

Some Democrats have suggested the measure will hurt Tennessee efforts to recruit foreign investment in the state.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

"Some Democrats have suggested the measure will hurt Tennessee efforts to recruit foreign investment in the state."

Typical lefty Bravo Sierra.