No new Colorado driver’s licenses or ID cards will be issued today unless the state quickly gets clarification on a judge’s order that strikes down rules governing the types of identification needed to obtain a license.
Revenue Director M. Michael Cooke ordered the state’s 52 driver’s-license offices to handle only license renewals until she “receives direction from the judge about how to process a license application,” she said late Thursday.
Also affected are driver exams and written tests, Cooke said.
“I’m hopeful we’re open and people should call ahead, but at this point, operations will not be open,” Cooke said. “I never imagined we’d be in this position. But we have to be very clear about what we’re doing.”
Denver Chief District Judge Larry Naves on Thursday ruled that the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles overstepped its authority when it unilaterally created a list of 19 documents that it considers acceptable identification to get a license or ID. Applicants must present two documents off that list.
“It’s an absurd rule they made on the fly,” attorney Sean Connelly said. “A passport is enough for you to leave the U.S., go to Korea and come back, but it’s not enough to get you into the DMV.”
State law requires agencies to first publish proposed rules, then have a public hearing on them before making them permanent.
The preliminary injunction was a victory for homeless people – and the agencies that help them – who say Colorado’s identification requirements prevented them from getting the coveted ID cards. Recent immigration reform, meant to ensure only citizens get state aid, has made state ID cards necessary to obtain housing, jobs and other benefits.
Others who have been denied a license and whose tales are detailed in the lawsuit include an attorney and a disabled veteran, each with several forms of identification – but not the precise forms Colorado requires.
Acceptable documents included a driver’s license from another state and certified birth certificates. But there were restrictions on which state licenses qualified and by whom the certificates could be certified. Passports were also a valid document but not by themselves.
“All we had was this Orwellian process of needing an ID in order to get an ID,” said John Parvensky, president of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, a plaintiff in the case. “Now they will have to go through a more public process with everyone looking over their shoulder.”
Naves also ordered the DMV to provide unsuccessful applicants written reasons for a license or ID-card denial. This will prevent applicants from getting different reasons on different days from different people, attorney Timothy Macdonald said.
Cooke refused to speculate on what a new license applicant would face at the DMV today if offices were opened.
“I’m very disappointed with the judge’s decision,” Cooke said. “We have great faith in our processes and I’m concerned this step backward could result in the issuance of documents obtained fraudulently.”
Cooke, who said she will resign when Gov.-elect Bill Ritter takes office in January, warned that the requirement for written denials would take time to put into place.
It’s unclear whether the state will appeal, but it has asked for a 30-day stay on Naves’ written denial requirement.
“If we don’t get that, we definitely cannot open,” Cooke said.
The state also could create emergency rules continuing the current two-document rule until public hearings could be held, but that hasn’t been decided either, Cooke said.
“In the end we may end up in the same place,” Parvensky said. “But perhaps they will come to a more reasonable position to ensure documentation is correct.”
The state’s list of acceptable documents changed from time to time, particularly as other states issued fraud warnings and Colorado reacted by refusing that state’s records, Cooke said.
“We have a statutory requirement to ensure legal presence,” Cooke said. “It’s about protecting Coloradans against identity theft. It might be inconvenient, but not as inconvenient as having your identity stolen.”
Staff writer David Migoya can be reached at 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com.
