On January 2nd , California becomes the tenth state to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants after they pass the written test, the driving test and buy insurance.
The bill known as AB60 was written by State Assemblyman Luis Alejo of Watsonville. He says the license will look like any California driver’s license except in the upper right hand corner there are three words, “Federal Limits Apply”. (see picture above)
The initial push for this law pre-dates Alejo’s time in the Legislature. It’s nearly 20 years in the making. But he says this difference in the look of the license is one thing that held up this legislation for so long.
Assemblyman Luis Alejo (LA): Well, that was the debate for 20 years at the state capital. For years they tried to keep it as closely as possible or the same as everyone else in the state. But after so many years, what I heard from immigrant rights groups and immigrant communities across the state was that, “it doesn’t need to be perfect, as long as it gives us a lawful way to drive on our roads and highways.”
These are people who are picking our crops. They’re working at our local restaurants, working at hotels and all they’ve been wanting is a legal opportunity to go to work, take their kids to school, go to church, go buy groceries. And now they can be able to accomplish that.
Krista Almanzan (KA): And I imagine much of that stuff is happening now anyway.
LA: We all know people are driving on our roads and highways because they have to find a way to work. They have to take their kids in the morning. And we always debated that it was a better policy for people to learn the rules of the road, get tested, get insured because that’s going to benefit everyone.
KA: What do you think will be the effect of AB60?
LA: I think time will prove out that it’s going to make our roads safer because there will be many more people who learn the rules of the road and have their licenses. But more importantly, it’s going to really help a lot of families not drive in fear that perhaps one day they would get pulled over and then get their car impounded for 30 days for not having something as basic as a driver’s license.
But I think there’s also going to be a huge economic benefit in the billions of dollars in California because now there’s going to be more than 2-million immigrants who are going to be able to buy auto insurance, they are going to be able to buy cars. The local banks tell me they also have lines of credit available. The number one requirement for their auto loans is to have a driver’s license.
KA: One thing that has to happen with this is people do have to go an identify themselves to the DMV. Do you worry that just having to come out as being here illegally will prevent people from doing this?
LA: That was certainly a major concern of ours. We’ve had townhalls with the DMV all over the state. There’s been over 175 townhalls in preparation of this law. And that is certainly something that has been expressed over and over, and many people are concerned with going to a DMV office, submitting information that they want to ensure that it’s protected. They don’t want that information ending up in the wrong. We’ve included protections to address those concerns.
AB60 is the first state that included an antidiscrimination provision under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, making it very clear that any agency, any entity would be subject to liability if they discriminate against anyone with an AB60 driver’s license. No other state had included that into their driver’s license law. In addition to that, we go additional legislation signed basically making it clear that all information submitted to the DMV is going to be confidential. It can’t be submitted to any outside agencies, and that is so that the immigrant communities feel whatever they’re submitting to the DMV will be confidential.
State Assemblyman Luis Alejo of Watsonville wrote AB60. It’s a law originally championed by former state Senator Gil Cedillo who asked Alejo to carry on the push after he termed out of the California Legislature.
“He was the long distance marathon runner. He carried this legislation for year after year for such a long time, and he was so committed, and I only consider myself the short sprinter at the end. I just got it across the finish line,” says Alejo.
The DMV has added staff, offices and hours to accommodate the 1.4-million new people expected to apply for licenses over the next three years.