NO DRIVER’S LICENSE FOR OSAMA BIN LADEN, PLEASE!
Osama bin Laden and his buddies shouldn’t have a right to Alaska driver’s licenses. That’s why I sponsored HB 3, a bill requiring legal presence in the United States and, by extension, legal presence in the State of Alaska for an Alaska driver’s license. With my bill, everyone in Alaska can get an Alaska driver’s license or ID Card, except illegal aliens. That’s my bill in a nutshell. We welcome legal visitors to Alaska, and the more the better. Visitors will have driving privileges so long as they are here legally.
Want a driver’s license in Mexico? Prove you entered their sovereign nation legally and have an official immigration document. No proof of legal presence in Mexico? No Mexican driver's license. Wow – what a concept! Want a driver’s license in the Yukon? You’ll need Canadian citizenship or an unexpired passport. The same common sense should apply in Alaska.
Predictably, my bill is opposed by the ACLU and their fellow travelers. Perhaps that’s something of a recommendation. Unfortunately, the ACLU and a radio talk show are propagandizing and inciting controversy aimed at linking my state bill to the federal “Real ID Act” – which (surprise, surprise) the ACLU and the radio show also oppose. In fact, the talk show host attempted to ambush me by phoning my capitol office on live radio and asking to speak to me as the “sponsor” of the “Real ID Act”! Reality check: state legislators don’t sponsor federal legislation.
The same radio show is encouraging “psycho-ceramic” (crackpot) calls in an attempt to use my state driver’s license legislation as a vehicle to attack the federal legislation. They allege everything from radio chips inserted under the skin, the “mark of the beast,” to registration of firearms (especially offensive to me as an NRA member), and more. A slick web site has been posted showing a phony-baloney Alaska driver’s license with the governor’s smiling face on it - with her religion, and firearms registration number! It’s a classic example of repeating a lie often enough for everyone to believe it. This stuff is an insult to intelligent commonsense Alaskans. Enough already.
Here’s another reality check. I sponsored HB40 in 2003, almost identical to my current HB3 driver’s license bill. That’s two years before the federal Real ID Act became law. My state bill can and should be judged on its own merits, whatever one’s position on the federal Real ID Act.
Some say illegal aliens will continue driving with or without an Alaska license. Probably. But some folks will continue committing burglary and homicide, regardless of the law – but we still have laws against burglary and homicide, and for good reason. Because someone violates a law, doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a law. Others say illegal aliens will be safer drivers if they pass a driver’s license tests. So what? Illegals shouldn’t be driving in Alaska in the first place.
The DMV is not the INS. Granted. But the DMV does have the right to determine if an applicant has the necessary documents needed for a license. It’s done every day. HB3 simply adds verification of the applicant having legal presence in our state. If a person doesn’t have a right to be in Alaska, because they don’t have legal presence, how could they logically have a legal right to have a license to be on our highways - where they shouldn’t be in the first place? This isn’t rocket science.
I value my privacy, just like other Alaskans. I also value common sense and the right of the State of Alaska to decide who does and who does not qualify for an Alaska driver’s license. Alaska is a sovereign state in a sovereign nation, and we should act like one by passing HB3.
NOTE: My bill on restricting Alaska Driver’s licenses and Identification Cards, HB3 moved out of our House State Affairs Committee last Tuesday with a party line 5 Republican 2 Democratic vote. The next committee of referral is Judiciary.
Want a driver’s license in Mexico? Prove you entered their sovereign nation legally and have an official immigration document. No proof of legal presence in Mexico? No Mexican driver's license. Wow – what a concept! Want a driver’s license in the Yukon? You’ll need Canadian citizenship or an unexpired passport. The same common sense should apply in Alaska.
Predictably, my bill is opposed by the ACLU and their fellow travelers. Perhaps that’s something of a recommendation. Unfortunately, the ACLU and a radio talk show are propagandizing and inciting controversy aimed at linking my state bill to the federal “Real ID Act” – which (surprise, surprise) the ACLU and the radio show also oppose. In fact, the talk show host attempted to ambush me by phoning my capitol office on live radio and asking to speak to me as the “sponsor” of the “Real ID Act”! Reality check: state legislators don’t sponsor federal legislation.
The same radio show is encouraging “psycho-ceramic” (crackpot) calls in an attempt to use my state driver’s license legislation as a vehicle to attack the federal legislation. They allege everything from radio chips inserted under the skin, the “mark of the beast,” to registration of firearms (especially offensive to me as an NRA member), and more. A slick web site has been posted showing a phony-baloney Alaska driver’s license with the governor’s smiling face on it - with her religion, and firearms registration number! It’s a classic example of repeating a lie often enough for everyone to believe it. This stuff is an insult to intelligent commonsense Alaskans. Enough already.
Here’s another reality check. I sponsored HB40 in 2003, almost identical to my current HB3 driver’s license bill. That’s two years before the federal Real ID Act became law. My state bill can and should be judged on its own merits, whatever one’s position on the federal Real ID Act.
Some say illegal aliens will continue driving with or without an Alaska license. Probably. But some folks will continue committing burglary and homicide, regardless of the law – but we still have laws against burglary and homicide, and for good reason. Because someone violates a law, doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be a law. Others say illegal aliens will be safer drivers if they pass a driver’s license tests. So what? Illegals shouldn’t be driving in Alaska in the first place.
The DMV is not the INS. Granted. But the DMV does have the right to determine if an applicant has the necessary documents needed for a license. It’s done every day. HB3 simply adds verification of the applicant having legal presence in our state. If a person doesn’t have a right to be in Alaska, because they don’t have legal presence, how could they logically have a legal right to have a license to be on our highways - where they shouldn’t be in the first place? This isn’t rocket science.
I value my privacy, just like other Alaskans. I also value common sense and the right of the State of Alaska to decide who does and who does not qualify for an Alaska driver’s license. Alaska is a sovereign state in a sovereign nation, and we should act like one by passing HB3.
NOTE: My bill on restricting Alaska Driver’s licenses and Identification Cards, HB3 moved out of our House State Affairs Committee last Tuesday with a party line 5 Republican 2 Democratic vote. The next committee of referral is Judiciary.
posted by Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn | 11:07 PM
4 Comments:
I oppose this bill -- as a conservative.
Besides the ACLU, Real ID is opposed by Gun Owners of America (PDF; p6), the American Conservative Union (PDF), and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Would you characerize those groups as the "fellow travelers" of the ACLU?
First of all, the Alaska DMV already does not issue licenses to illegal aliens. To that effect, this bill is redundant. (Also don't forget that foreign licenses are valid here anyway...)
The devil is in the details. Duane Bannock has testified repeatedly that the DMV will implement this bill by keeping electronic copies of every document used to apply for a license. If this is all about illegal immigration, why do they need to keep this information about verified American citizens?
This bill increases our government, reduces our privacy, and potentially increases illegal immigration - without any benefit to Alaskans. Mr. Bannock and I definitely agree on one thing: this bill is a part of the national Real ID Act.
As I said in my testimony, I have a great solution that's nearly free if someone shows up with bogus documents at the DMV. Call USCIS (INS) and let them deal with it.
I don't support illegal immigration. I also wouldn't support a law making it illegal for illegal aliens to cross the street -- if it involvs posting cops at each crosswalk to check your papers.
This bill doesn't do anything about illegal immigration at all. For all five or six potential illegal immigrants that it would prevent, you want to set up a system that puts all of our personal information at risk. A security breach, like the kind that happened to three states in 2005 alone, would promote illegal immigration instead of reducing it! With those chances, we have a 60% chance of having it happen to us too in the next ten years.
I don't want my birth certificate and passport sold off on a DVD in Tijuana.
No thanks, Rep. Lynn.
I know I am naive, but I really believed that our representatives were suppose to do just that. I thought that a democracy was suppose to be "... of the people, by the people..." . I am starting to wonder if it isn't of the party, by the party. Or worse, of the few, by the few.
Was your decision actually based on your constituents? I am one of those (useless things) and I don't remember anyone asking me. Nor do my neighbors. Nor does anyone I know. Are you substituting your personal values for those you are suppose to represent? Is that ethical?
Bob! You claim to be an Alaskan? Don't you think we are a freedom loving bunch?
You are right, we have laws against crimes, yet the crimes still happen. I like, "when the government takes all the guns, only the criminals will have them." The only thing Real-ID will do is make trouble for law abiding citizens. The rest will buy what they need to get on the same plane. It won't take long for a computer and a 13yo to fake anything the gov can create.
I know your intentions are right. I don't know if our (federal) government's intentions are now or will be in the citizen's best interest.
Please, for all Alaskans and U.S. Citizens, now and future, don't let this happen.
Rep. Bob Lynn,
The title of this post clearly demonstrates your poor tact and use of terror threats to further your own (or the new age Republican party) agenda to further impose restrictions on the People. As a delegate to the 2008 Republican convention, I am absolutely opposed to this bill and find it ill-advised. As an Alaskan and born resident of this Republic, I also oppose your wishes to empower the DMV to regulate, store additional personal information and impose their own rules related to identification documents. This is clearly a trojan horse attempt to undermine the will of the people. A driver's license is JUST THAT, a license to drive a motor vehicle. If the State is so concerned about branding all its citizens like cattle, I encourage you to pass any bill that requires free born legal citizens to PROVE they are who they are. If you want to stop illegal immigrants, stop them at the border. Why should the crimes of the few impose upon the vast majority who have committed no crime? The Republican party is changing, and I am not alone when I say - we are watching this legislature and will impose the will of the People at the ballot box. I ask you to reconsider your position.
Rep Lynn, with all due respect I have no choice but to oppose this bill and similar federal bills such as the Real ID act. Frankly I am appalled by the bill. Your bill is precsiely what I joined the Republican Party to oppose.
You think this will make people safe - it won't. I know where this road leads and I am not willing to follow it.
Times are changing. I am proud that the ARP has finally repudiated the Real ID act, and by implication similar bills such as yours.
That's right, the grass roots have spoken and you are well outside the conservative mainstream. I know that people have called you, and your staffers have brushed them off. If we have to vote you out of office to repeal your bill, that will be unfortunate.
Follow the party platform or leave the party. Your bill is a disgrace to real conservatives.
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