Legislature may address change in driver's license rules
By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 10, 2008, 11:09PMShare Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzTexas has joined two other Southwest border states — California and Arizona — that require immigrants to prove their legal status before they can get a driver's license.

The abrupt turnabout, which puts Texas' policy in line with all but eight states, took effect Oct. 1. The Public Safety Commission in Austin decided to change the rules administratively in late August after public hearings that received no publicity.

The change did not ignite the acrimonious public debate that has surrounded the issue in other states with large immigrant populations, including New York, California and Florida.

But many predict it is a debate that will be revisited, and very soon.

"When the Legislature finds out, it will hit the fan," said University of Houston law professor Michael A. Olivas. "This is a giant step backward."

Several lawmakers from Houston confirmed Friday the new rules will be addressed when the Legislature convenes in January.

"The colleagues I've talked to are going to revisit this," said state Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, "We're going to look at all aspects — see if it's constitutional or not. "

Gallegos speculated the changes are election-year politics orchestrated by Gov. Rick Perry, who appoints Public Safety Commission members. They were announced publicly on Wednesday by Perry, although they were formally adopted with little fanfare on Aug. 25 by the commission.

Gallegos said the measure will help candidates who don't want to be seen voting for a measure that hurts immigrants.

"There's no doubt in my mind that people running for office know this issue is coming up, and they'll have to take a side," said Gallegos. "This way, they let the agency take care of it."


A reaction to 9/11 attacks
Efforts to write a similar policy into state law have been tried more than once, but have never gained traction in the Texas Legislature.

Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Perry, said Texas lawmakers could have tackled the issue.

"The Legislature has had the opporturnty to do that," she said. "I guess if this was a priority for them, we would have seen it before now."

State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, asked Allan Polunsky, the head of the Public Safety Commission, to rescind the new rule until the Legislature meets.

"This rule represents a major policy decision and should not be initiated as part of agency rule-making," McClendon said, in a letter released late Friday.

Limiting driver's licenses to legal immigrants has ignited controversy in many states, as a 2009 federal deadline for states to issue more secure documents approaches.

Steve Camorata, a director of the Center of Immigration Studies, a Washington D.C., group that favors tighter immigration control, said the Texas rule change is part of a trend by state governments following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"They're being more careful of who they are giving identity documents to," Camorata said.


Maryland plan failed
A Maryland proposal to create two tiers of driver's licenses failed in April in the Legislature, after an uproar from many Republican lawmakers and groups opposed to illegal immigration. The two-tier system was seen as a way to comply with federal standards for state licenses and IDs.

Maryland remains one of only a handful of states that still do not require proof of legal presence to obtain a driver's license, although the state's Democratic governor has indicated his intent to comply with the federal standards.

In New Mexico, lawmakers changed state law in 2003 to allow all immigrants to be licensed drivers, part of a successful campaign to lower the number of uninsured motorists.

"What we wanted to do was move these people to a position where we could track our drivers and enforce our state laws," said Rick Homans, secretary of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department.

As a result, New Mexico is no longer among the states with the highest number of uninsured motorists, Homans, said.


Could hurt the economy
A coalition of Texas construction contractors is also worried about the rule change.

"This kind of a ruling simply compounds the problem," said Norman Adams, a Houston insurance agent who co-founded Texans for Sensible Immigration Policy. "These people own their automobiles, a lot own their houses. They're not going to stop driving to work or the grocery store, but they're gonna be uninsured."

One Houston lawmaker said the measure could further exacerbate the fallout from the national financial crisis.

"We're going through a tough time and we want to adopt measures that stimulate the economy, not further devastate it," said state Rep. Ana Hernandez, a Democrat, explaining the rule will discourage illegal immigrants from leaving home to shop. "We need immigrant purchasing power," she said.

Chronicle reporter Bradley Olson contributed to this story.

james.pinkerton@chron.com
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