A program that provides driver’s licenses to people living in the country illegally narrowly passed the House on Monday.
would expand the existing immigrant licensing program from three offices to nine and hire 20 more employees to help resolve the backlog of applicants.
It was approved 34-31 with Republicans making up the dissent.
Rep. Jonathan Singer, a Democrat from Longmont who sponsored the bill, says the improvement would be paid for by those who purchase the licenses, which is estimated to bring in more than $1.1 million in the next fiscal year.
Proponents said the bill would result in more insured drivers while reducing the chance that undocumented drivers would flee a collision.
The legislation faces almost certain doom in the Republican-controlled Senate, however, as GOP lawmakers have strongly pushed back against efforts to expand and improve upon the program.
A cut the license program’s original five locations until lawmakers struck a deal to operate offices in Denver, Grand Junction and Colorado Springs.
An estimated 150,000 residents in Colorado live in the country illegally. Applicants can face years-long waits for an appointment to get a license.
Reports of scams targeting those desperate for a appointment to get the licenses . Another bill to make it misdemeanor for people to sell government services
That legislation was prompted by a shady practice called appointment selling, where people sign up for an appointment for an immigrant driver’s license and later sell the slot, or simply sell a slot they don’t have.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
