Tag, license officials seeking attorney general's opinion on aspect of new immigration law
Tuesday, August 23, 2011, 8:37 AM
By Paul Gattis
The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Two statewide groups are seeking an opinion from the Alabama attorney general to interpret an aspect of the state's new immigration law that could cause motorists headaches when they renew car tags and drivers licenses.

Madison County License Director Mark Craig said Monday representatives of the Alabama Probate Judges Association and the Alabama Association of Tax Administrators will meet this week with Attorney General Luther Strange to seek clarification on Section 30 of the immigration law.

That section requires motorists to prove U.S. citizenship to renew tags and licenses when the law takes effect Sept. 1 and it's causing concern throughout the state.

In Madison County, that means that the 40 percent who renew their tags by phone or online, more than 130,000 people, would have to visit the courthouse or one of five satellite offices.

Craig said lines are already long enough and forcing that 40 percent to renew in person would only add to the congestion. Madison County renews about 355,000 car tags each year.

"We're, in a sense, fighting the law a little bit" on what will be required to renew licenses, Craig said.

Craig said such inconveniences weren't considered when advocates pushed for it, legislators voted for it and Gov. Robert Bentley signed it into law.

But if the law stands, the long lines at the courthouse and satellite offices are about to get longer, Craig said.

"It is going to drastically impact what we do," he said.

The information sought by the new law is already largely on record, Craig said, because a driver's license is required to renew a tag or license. The new law also requires all people whose names are listed on a vehicle's ownership records provide proof of citizenship, Craig said.

About 90 percent of the transactions in the license department are renewals for people whose citizenship is already on record, Craig said. That means only 10 percent of the transactions will gain unrecorded proof of citizenship.

"Some of us are referring to it as the 90/10 law," Craig said. "Ninety percent of our people already have an Alabama's driver's license. They are the ones who are going to suffer the most to have to come in and prove it. And prove it year after year after year.

"And the ones who are illegal, they're not going to come in any more because they know you're asking for it."

Craig also took issue with the permitted documentation available to verify citizenship. Among the acceptable documents are Bureau of Indian Affairs card number, tribal treaty card number or tribal enrollment number as well as American Indian card, with KIC classification, issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Copies of the cards for identification purposes have not been made available, Craig said. "If somebody showed me one, I wouldn't know if it's real," he said.

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