Although serving as an Assemblyman for only six months, over the years I know about the failed attempts to allow illegal immigrants a driver's license. In 2000, Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, introduced Senate Bill 60 that sought to allow illegal immigrants the ability to obtain a California driver's license. Democrats in both houses of the Legislature supported the bill and sent it to the Governor's desk for approval. In fact, he has introduced this bill a total of six times.
Despite strong Republican opposition, it's back again. His current driver's license bill has passed the Senate Floor and is now on its way over to the Assembly for consideration.
Before talking about the sheer violation of current state laws, what are the financial impacts of this bill on a state budget that is facing a deficit of $24 billion?
According to DMV's own analysis of the bill, granting illegal immigrants the ability to obtain a driver's license would be a net loss to the state of $20 million in the next three years. If history is any indicator of the future, this $20 million lost would have to be paid by... yes, vehicle registration fee increases.
I will strongly oppose this bill when it reaches the Assembly Floor because it rewards people who have blatantly broken our laws and entered our state illegally. It also sends a message to those individuals who are patiently waiting to enter our country legally that our laws are made to be broken. Our state is full of people that waited their time and followed our laws.
While I understand that illegal immigrants will drive regardless if they are licensed or not, it is simply bad policy to perpetuate our immigration problems further with this bill. In a perfect world this bill would be killed in committee and never reach the Assembly Floor for a vote, let alone the Governor's desk for approval. Unfortunately, the Legislature is controlled by partisan politics and special interest groups, where an absurd policy like this one manage to move much further than it should.
The people of California are tired of this flawed driver's license proposal. Our vehicle registration fees must not be used to pay for backfilling illegal immigrant driver licensees. It's insane, yet that word is being widely used by Californians everywhere to describe the bills that have been coming out of Sacramento.
In this fiscal crisis, we cannot batter our taxpayers more with higher vehicle registration fees. In this fiscal crisis, we cannot reward those that break our laws. In this fiscal crisis, we should not pass a bill that collectively harms Californians.
