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Legislature: Issue of driver’s licenses delays action


ROBIN HINDERY; The Associated Press |

• Published April 20, 2011

A planned vote on a proposed state transportation budget for the next two years was sidetracked Tuesday when a Republican state senator tried to tack on an amendment aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining driver’s licenses.

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The Senate met to discuss the $8.9 billion budget approved by House lawmakers last month. Senate leaders had hoped to vote on an amendment combining various aspects of the original House and Senate budget proposals into one compromise plan.

But the floor session was cut short after Sen. Don Benton introduced his own amendment to require the state Department of Licensing to verify the citizenship of driver’s license applicants if they fail to provide a valid Social Security number.

Washington and New Mexico are the only two states where illegal immigrants can get driver’s licenses.

“It has come to light that Washington appears to be a magnet state for people in this country illegally to come get a legal driver’s license,” said Benton, R-Vancouver. “We’ve issued way more licenses than we have residents.”

A bill introduced earlier this session would have restricted illegal immigrants’ access to driver’s licenses, but Senate Democrats refused to bring it up for a floor vote before a March cutoff deadline.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown said Benton’s amendment was outside the scope of the transportation budget and

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/YhqyofT0phw/senate-postpones-vote-on-transportation.html