By Rob Nikolewski on February 8, 2014
New Mexico Watchdog


BACK AGAIN: A bill that would repeal New Mexico’s law allowing driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants stalled in a committee hearing Saturday.

SANTA FE – The same issue, the same result … for now.

A bill aimed at repealing the New Mexico law that allows immigrants who are in the state illegally to obtain driver’s licenses was thwarted in committee on Saturday but, as it has in the past, it may come back later in the 30-day session onto the House floor.

House Bill 127, an identical bill introduced last year by Rep. Paul Pacheco, R-Rio Rancho, deadlocked in a 4-4 vote in the House Labor and Human Relations Committee, with all Democrats on the committee voting to table the bill and all four Republicans voting against the tabling motion.

It takes a majority vote for a bill to pass out of committee.

“This is not an anti-immigrant bill. This bill is a public safety bill,” said Pacheco, who said the legislation is necessary in order to get New Mexico in compliance with the federal government’s REAL ID Act. A brief released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Department last December listed New Mexico as one of 13 states not in compliance with the act that passed in 2005.

“We have a real roadblock that we cannot get past due to our law,” said New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Secretary Demesia Padilla, who said she received a letter from Homeland Security granting New Mexico an extension through Oct. 10.

“Unless we do something in this legislative session, New Mexico’s extension will end in October of 2014 and there will be real consequences,” Padilla said.

But critics of the bill point out that the federal government has repeatedly offered extensions to the act and that eight states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have passed driver’s license bills similar to New Mexico’s in the past year.

“REAL ID is effectively dead,” the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico said in a statement. “This costly, unpopular law would turn state drivers licenses into a national identity card and has raised widespread concerns of government surveillance and waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“The current law makes sense and allows us to keep track of people,” said Santa Fe police chief Ray Rael. “These people are going to drive anyway.”

“I would just say, basta,” said Speaker of the House W. Ken Martinez, D-Grants. “We’re done with this. This has to end. No disrespect … what you’re doing is trying to find someone to blame.”

Martinez and Pacheco sparred over the issue, with Martinez calling it a “red herring.”

“I think we can do a REAL ID-compliant bill and get it passed before this legislative session is over but it can’t be a Trojan horse,” Martinez said.

“I really resent the implication that this legislation being called a political issue,” Pacheco said. “I’m trying to do what’s right.”

“I will vote against this bill every step of the way,” Martinez, who mentioned Democrats who have faced political attacks for supporting the current law.

“That knife cuts both ways when it comes to politics,” Pacheco said. “You talk about attacks … In the last election cycle, I don’t think anyone was attacked more than I was in my race with ads that even targeted my wife.”

Since taking office in January of 2011, Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has supported repealing the state law. The bills have been turned back in committees, which are chaired by Democrats.

However, supporters of repealing the law have been able to “blast” the bills out onto the floor of the House of Representatives. In 2011 the bill was defeated on the Senate floor and in 2012 was bottled up in the Senate committee process.

In 2013, Pacheco’s bill deadlocked on the House floor, 35-35.

“I would hope we don’t end up with this bill in a floor debate that will take hours and hours when we’re working on a budget,” Speaker Martinez said.

When asked by New Mexico Watchdog on Saturday if he plans on blasting this year’s legislation, Pacheco said, “I’ll talk to my fellow representatives about a next step and if there is a next step what that step will be.”

http://newmexico.watchdog.org/20342/...-in-committee/