APRIL 2006 “THAT’S INCREDIBLE AWARD”
When I joined the legislature in 2003, I sponsored HB 40 to restrict issuance of Alaska drivers' licenses to persons with a legal presence of Alaska – in other words, not illegal aliens. That bill languished in the State Affairs Committee until until May 1st, 2004, when it was passed out of committee too late to make it the Senate before the end of the 23rd Legislature. One of the representatives who voted “do NOT pass” in 2004 is this year’s Chairman of the House State Affairs Committee. A year ago March 2005 I sponsored HB290, my second bill on the same subject, but with added provisions that would allow Alaska to conform to the national “Real ID Act” that should take effect in 2008. The House State Affairs gave HB290 bill two hearings in March 2006, but failed to move the bill.
Meanwhile, SB189, a Senate companion bill to my HB290, whizzed through the Senate and was passed to the House on a 17 to 1 vote – where it was sent to the House State Affairs Committee on April 11, and finally heard today April 27th. I support SB189, which is identical to my HB290. The committee received excellent expert testimony from the Director of the Alaska Department of Motor Vehicles, as well as from the Senator sponsoring the bill.
Unfortunately, the hearing was allowed to turn into a debate on national immigration policy, national identification cards, the national Real Identification Act, and the 'rights' of foreign students – instead of focusing on whether someone without a legal presence in Alaska should have the privilege of a driver’s license. Unbelievable.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------MOTION BY REP. LYNN TO MOVE SB189 out of the House State Affairs Committee:
“Mr. Chairman, we are not debating the national ‘Real ID Act.’ We are not debating national ID cards. We are not debating national immigration policies. We are here in Alaska. We're supposed to be debating SB189 which is a bill that restricts Alaska driver’s licenses to those who have a legal presence in the United States and, by extension, a legal presence in Alaska.
I can’t believe some of testimony – maybe I should say “stuff” – I’ve heard today against this bill. What’s the agenda here? What ever happened to common sense – which doesn’t seem so common?
How in the world can anyone be in the United States, or Alaska, without a legal presence and have any legal privilege to drive – or do anything else?
Every once in a while we get a bill before the committee that makes eminent common sense, and this bill is one of those bills. And so I make a motion to move SB189 out of committee.”
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NOTE: The motion failed on a 2 – 2. I voted “yes.”
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Unless a miracle occurs, both my House bill and the good Senator's bill are dead for this year – even though outside the House State Affairs Committee there's wide support, both in the legislature and the community, to prevent illegal aliens from obtaining drivers’ licenses. What happened today wins my April 2006 “THAT'S INCREDIBLE AWARD."
The opposition brought in the “heavy guns” from both inside and outside Alaska to kill this bill. They are the same type people who insist on calling illegal aliens “undocumented workers.” The same kind of people who don't understand national security, and the potential for identity theft. What happened in Alaska today is a mirror of the national problems we're experiencing on anything that has to do with illegal aliens.
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 11:07 PM
3 Comments:
I have don't have a problem with the bills mentioned, just the database being created and the way the "Real ID" act was passed and how it is going to be a national ID card in the long run.
I believe that the Mark of The Beast will be implemented through the machinations of the "Real ID" act. I have some info to back up my claims.
Are you committed to supporting the "Real ID" act?
I also believe that the federal government is taking way to much power from the states as well as acting unconstitutionally by mandating a national ID card.
Thank you for serving, I'm in your district 31.
Well Bob, looks like Alaskans won and you lost: Sine Die!
Jerad: Yes, this bill was part of our state's implementation of the Real ID Act.
Hello Bob,
I know that we agree on far more things than we disagree on. But I can assure you that I was only speaking for myself at the committee! I'm not apologetic for illegal immigrants (although I do also realize how much of a mess our current immigration law is).
The biggest problem with this bill is that it involved building a government database of images of everyone's identity documents. It's like trying to kill a fly by throwing a hammer at the window. You probably won't hit the fly, and it's a very expensive fix.
If the law existed in a vacuum and only had the effect of making life more difficult for an illegal immigrant without the parts that affect the rest of us, I could be for it. But it doesn't even deter illegals (with their completely valid foreign licenses and passports) -- the only additional advantage that a domestic driver's license confers is the ability to easily obtain car insurance. It doesn't create a deterrance to illegal immigraiton.
However, there are some serious unwanted effects: a massive government database of Alaskans' very private information, more bureaucracy at the DMV, and the liklihood that we'd have 5,000 - 10,000 fewer insured drivers on the roads (i.e., illegal aliens in Alaska).
These side effects hurt us far more than the deterrent and punishment this bill creates against illegals.
I also don't like jaywalking, but I prefer that to having video cameras or cops at every crosswalk.
The DMV already makes a reasonable check for legal presence when you first apply for a license.
This bill stands against my understanding of conservative values: it provides for bigger government, bigger bureaucracy, more gov't interference in our lives, less privacy, more tracking of citizens, etc.
If someone does show up at the DMV and the official has reasonable suspicion that they aren't here legally, or if a policeman finds someone suspicious during a traffic stop, I have a very simple and inexpensive option that would be equally effective: call the local immigration enforcement office.
Matt
(Background for other readers: this bill required the DMV to retain scanned images of the identity documents used by all new license applicants in a massive government database -- social security cards, birth certificates, passports, etc. I am strongly against the whole idea.)
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