A group of Colorado lawmakers, including two Republicans, are again trying to ease the application logjam and fix a document glitch for the state’s long embattleddriver’s license program for people living in the U.S. illegally.
A proposal of theirs introduced last week in the GOP-controlled Senate would allow applicants to use a Social Security number as part of their application instead of just anIndividual Taxpayer Identification Number (or ITIN). Allowing only the latter, advocates say, has cut out a host of otherwise-eligible applicants.
The measure, , would also allow currentlicense holders to reapply by mail or online instead of through an in-person appointment at one of four Department of Motor Vehicles locations statewide that take them.
That could be especially helpful for the first wave of people who received the licenses, valid for three years instead of the five-year window for U.S. citizens. That’s because thousands of them have begun to expire in recent months, adding to the long line of those seeking appointments to becomes legal drivers.
The legislation is set to go before the SenateState, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee this week, and Senate GOP leadership appears more open than in years past to approving changes for the first time despite years of pushing back against the initiative.
“This is an outgrowth of something that we’ve been trying to do for several years now, to make (the) driver’s license program work,” said Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, who is one of the bill’s prime sponsors along with Republican Sens. Don Coram, of Montrose, and Larry Crowder, of Alamosa. “This is more about government efficiency than it is about immigration reform. … This is about compromising road safety.”
The biggest difference between this bill and a similar one that failed last year — Singer and Coram were prime sponsors of that one, too — is that this year’s measure doesn’t involve offering appointments for the program at more Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles locations.It also does not address a cap on the number of licenses that can be issued before the DMV reduces the number of offices offering appointments to one.
“We drew the second part back,” Singer said. “That was a big point of contention with the budget committee, a bunch of other folks. … In all honesty, I try to not make this about immigration reform because that debate, well, you just saw there was a government shutdown about that debate. I try to make it about road and community safety.”
The driver’s license initiative, created when Democrats controlled the legislature and governor’s mansionin 2013 and pitched as a public safety program, has faced hurdles since it began in August 2014.
It’s unclear how the latest measure will fare in the upper chamber this year since GOP legislators to the license program in the past. But Senate Republican leaders do note they have been lobbied by agriculture groups looking to get their workers who are in the U.S. with legal residency licensed.
“In concept, yeah, I’m supportive of knowing who’s in this country and who is in our state,” said Senate President Pro TemJerry Sonnenberg,a Sterling Republicanwho is also vice-chair of the SenateState, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.“And that’s one way of finding out.”