License Bill Draws Mixed Response

Gov. Gray Davis’ promise over the weekend that he would sign a bill allowing illegal immigrants to apply for California driver’s licenses was alternately praised Monday as an enlightened decision to advance public safety and condemned as a shameless ploy to win Latino votes.

At an anti-recall rally Saturday in Los Angeles, Davis, who has twice vetoed similar bills at the recommendation of law enforcement officers, said he would sign the current bill “in a heartbeat,” apparently surprising even the governor’s aides.

Davis appeared at the weekend rally with Latino officeholders, including state Sen. Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). Cedillo wrote the current bill and has argued for the last two years that the estimated 2 million illegal immigrants in California who are old enough to drive should be properly trained, licensed, fingerprinted, photographed and insured before getting behind the wheel.

Cedillo’s legislation has the endorsement of the California Federation of Labor, the insurance industry and immigrant rights advocates.

The governor’s announcement touched off anger among activists against illegal immigration. They said it would be a perversion of the state licensing system to provide a legal document to a motorist whose presence in this country violates federal law.

Barbara Coe of Huntington Beach, chairwoman of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, accused Davis of agreeing to sign the bill in exchange for support of Latino voters in the Oct. 7 recall election.

“I think it clearly illustrates that he is willing to sacrifice the very lives of law-abiding Americans and legal residents in exchange for the illegal alien vote to stay in office,” Coe alleged. (It is against the law for illegal immigrants to vote.)

“I don’t know what motivated him,” Cedillo said of the governor’s reversal, “but we’ve been working to impress on him the urgent need for this bill.”

Davis angered many Latino legislators last fall when he vetoed similar legislation after earlier indicating his support. At the time, Davis said the bill needed a provision that illegal immigrants prove they were working. He also cited fear that terrorists might obtain licenses.

Cedillo has argued that national security would be enhanced because law enforcement officials can use Department of Motor Vehicle records to find illegal immigrants who may have committed a crime. The files would contain their photographs, thumbprints and addresses, the same as all licensed drivers.

Cedillo said he met privately with Davis shortly after the recall campaign had been launched to discuss the measure.

“He was very clear that he was not talking [recall] politics and policy,” said Cedillo, who had angrily criticized Davis last year after his veto.

Cedillo said Monday that Davis privately mentioned his change of mind shortly before the anti-recall rally.

“I said it was important to mention it publicly,” Cedillo said he told Davis. “I think he realizes that on national security and national traffic safety issues, this is good policy.”

Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio said he did not believe that Davis reversed himself, asserting that “all along he’s said he wants to sign a bill,” provided it complied with his specifications.

However, the current measure, SB 60, meets few if any of the highly detailed objections Davis had cited as reasons for vetoing the first two bills in 2000 and last year. Maviglio agreed that may be the case, but he said Davis “is continuing to talk about the fine print of the bill with the sponsor” for possible amendments.

Unlike his previous bills, Cedillo’s newest edition, which has passed the Senate and is pending in the Assembly, does not contain a requirement that the applicant be in the process of obtaining U.S. citizenship or that a background investigation be made that would weed out individuals with a criminal history.

Cedillo agreed that certain unspecified details need further work, but said they were nothing that would “prevent us from getting the bill signed.”

Sarah Olivia Mercer, a lobbyist for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a major backer of the bill, said her organization was extremely excited and optimistic about Davis’ announcement.

Mercer said she believed that a long, intensive campaign to persuade Davis to switch from a veto to a signature finally worked. “We’ve been doing the research necessary to show this is a really important public safety issue for California,” she said.