Thread: Immigration add-on could spell doom for license bill

Immigration add-on could spell doom for license bill

Dem cries foul over GOP's plan to include controversial amendment to teen-driving measure

Steve Terrell | The New Mexican
Posted: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 - 2/16/11 4

Could a bill aimed at tightening driver's license requirements for teenagers in New Mexico get sandbagged by the hot-button issue of illegal immigration?

That's the fear of Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, whose Senate Bill 9 has gone through all its assigned committees but has been held up for a Senate floor vote for two days.

Some Senate Republicans want to amend the bill to include a prohibition against issuing driver's licenses to undocumented foreign nationals — a major campaign issue for Republicans last year, including Gov. Susana Martinez.

Amending an unrelated bill on the Senate floor would amount to an end-run around the committee process — a process that so far hasn't been kind to bills related to driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Last week, a House Committee effectively killed one such measure.

"This is a really important bill," Wirth said Tuesday of his proposal to put new regulations on teen drivers. "In my opinion, amending it like that would be an unconstitutional change, although all senators have the right to offer amendments."

Wirth pointed to a provision of the state constitution that says "no bill shall be so altered or amended on its passage through either house as to change its original purpose."

Republicans on the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee earlier this month tried to amend the bill to deny licenses to undocumented residents, but that failed on a party-line vote.

Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, who is pushing the idea, said Tuesday that his proposed amendment would remove a passage added in 2003 to the state statute on driver's licenses: "For foreign nationals applying for driver's licenses, the secretary shall accept the individual taxpayer identification number as a substitute for a Social Security number regardless of immigration status."

Said Sharer, "That language is what gave illegals the right to have driver's licenses."

Wirth said the focus of his SB 9 is graduated driver's licenses for teenagers. Under the bill, drivers with an instruction permit or provisional license would be delayed from getting their full license for 30 days for each "traffic violation" they commit.

Counting as "traffic offenses" would be "buying, attempting to buy, receiving, possessing or permitting oneself to be served with alcoholic beverages." Other violations that could delay a license include not wearing seat belts and using mobile phones while driving.

Sharer said, "I'll vote to pass the bill whether or not it has my amendment."

At least two bills that would stop the issuance of licenses to the undocumented are still alive in the session. House Bill 78, sponsored by Rep. Andy Nuñez, I-Hatch, was introduced on the first day of the session. It's awaiting a hearing in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee.

SB 515, sponsored by Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, was introduced Tuesday. It was assigned to the Senate Public Affairs and Judiciary committees.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local% ... cense-bill

Republicans on the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee earlier this month tried to amend the bill to deny licenses to undocumented residents, but that failed on a party-line vote.

Something is definitely going wrong the reason every law fails when it comes to enforcements against illegal aliens. Those that are voting ("Nay") must understand this Country is being destroyed by undocumented aliens, therefore steeper laws must be in effect to cease criminal activities performed by illegal immigrants.