Immigrant Driver's License Bill Refiled
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - A vetoed proposal to help young undocumented immigrants get driver's licenses has been for the 2014 legislative session.
The bill (SB 96) proposes adding paperwork from a U.S. Department of Homeland Security initiative known as "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" to a list of documents that state motor-vehicle officials could accept as proof of identity or legal presence for driver's license applications.
The deferred-action process, while neither conferring citizenship nor permanent-resident status, grants a two-year non-deportation promise to undocumented immigrants under 30 who don't have criminal records, arrived in America before they were 16, have lived in the country for at least five years, and were enrolled or graduated from high school or a university or had been honorably discharged from the U.S. military.
In vetoing the bill (HB 235) from the 2013 session, Gov. Rick Scott pointed out that an executive order behind the deferred-action status hadn't been approved by Congress. The veto caught many off guard, coming as Republicans sought to boost their appeal among Hispanic voters.
Sen. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, who reintroduced the bill, said last June that Scott missed an opportunity to help people who come to Florida from foreign countries.
"It's hard for people to realize the America dream if you don't have a driver license and most jobs require you to commute, so I think it's more than symbolic," Soto said after the bill was vetoed.
"It's something that is needed in America to succeed." Scott wrote in his veto letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner that while the legislation was well intentioned, the measure "should not have been done by relying on a federal government policy adopted without legal basis."
The vetoed bill had been backed without opposition in the Senate and with only two dissenting votes in the House.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
