http://www.ridgecrestca.com/articles/20 ... feat03.txt

License, insurance issue ‘hitting the streets' of California
By Staff Reporter

JOHN V. CIANI/jciani@ridgecrestca.com

The legislature is considering state Sen. Gil Cedillo's bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to receive California driver's licenses. The Senate passed the bill June 1 by a 23-15 vote, and the Assembly Appropriations Committee has scheduled a hearing on the bill for Aug. 9.

Current California law requires foreign-born applicants for a California drivers license or identification card to prove their legal status.

Local insurance agents say no one may get insurance without a license.

A spokesperson for Gary Charlon State Farm Insurance said the agency checks applicants' driving records, and applicants must be the registered owners of the vehicles being insured.

In the case of foreign drivers, he said applicants must prove they have had licenses for at least three years.

Bowles Desert Insurance Agent Chris Hill said his agency also requires applicants to have valid California drivers licenses to get insurance, but international licenses are also accepted.

Anyone applying for insurance must live in the state at least 10 months a year, but there is an exception for military personnel, he said.



Hill said the agency does not deal with issues such as legal status.

“There are plenty of California people who don't have insurance,” he said.

According to Ridgecrest Police Chief Mike Avery, there were 249 cases of unlicensed drivers within the city of Ridgecrest and 210 cases of driving on a suspended license from June 1, 2005 to May 31 of this year. “There is some probability that some of the suspended license case resulted from an unlicensed driver case.”

He said incidents involving illegal immigrants would be elusive at best because the department neither carries those numbers nor asks victims or involved parties outside of arrest or other abnormal circumstances their status.

“Even if we did these numbers would be skewed, as tracking changes along with the number of names used by any one subject or suspect,” said Avery. “The only reference may be that subjects who live in our communities undocumented would effect an organization such as ours in that they would only be listed as part of our general demographic.”

Guessing is the most accurate way of estimating the sheer numbers of any class or classes of people who wish, by their very presence to remain anonymous, he said.

A Department of Motor Vehicles representative said visitors to California over 18 years old with valid licenses from their home state or country may drive in this state without getting a California license as long as their home state licenses are valid.

People who are here on work or student visas may obtain a drivers license, she said.

Accidents involving illegal immigrants are legal issues the DMV is not involved in, she added.

As of Aug. 1, 2005, anyone applying for a drivers license or identification card using a birth date legal-presence document issued by the Department of Homeland Security, such licenses or identification cards will expire on the same date as the DHS document.

People who become employed here or become residents must get California driver licenses within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner's property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

To get a drivers license or identification card, applicants must give thumb prints, have pictures taken, provide social security numbers, which will be verified with the Social Security Administration.

Applicants must also verify birth dates and legal presence, provide true full names, pay the application fee and pass a vision exam.