The House of Delegates voted 83-54 to pass Senate Bill 715, the Maryland Highway Safety Act of 2013. The Senate passed the same bill in March.
Heavily favored by Democrats, the legislation would require Maryland to establish a second-class driver’s license that applicants could obtain without a Social Security number or proof of lawful status.
The bill would repeal a state law passed in 2009 that would have kept immigrants from obtaining or renewing driver’s licenses after July 2015. That move was made to comply with the federal Real ID Act.
Opponents argue the licenses could draw more people living in the country illegally to Maryland, and even said terrorists could take advantage of the law.
But supporters of the bill said that when immigrants who are living in the country illegally have access to driver’s licenses, it enables them to purchase car insurance and would make the state’s highways and roads safer.
It would also allow undocumented immigrants who consider themselves Americans to continue to live their lives, said Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk, D-College Park.
Pena-Melnyk said delegates who were opposed to the bill weren’t considering the “human aspect of it.”
“You’re not going to be able to take them all and send them home,” Pena-Melnyk said. “The truth of the matter is they need to get to work. The truth of the matter is the children need to get to school. That is the humane thing to do.”
Under the legislation, immigrants would have to show some form of identification, such as a birth certificate or passport. Applicants would still have to pass written and road exams and also would be required to provide two years of state income tax filings to prove long-term residency.
Del. Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery, said the bill would make it much more easy for the state to enforce the rules of the road and the insurance requirements necessary for driving.
But Del. Cathy Vitale, R-Severna Park, said people who aren’t immigrants, who are U.S. citizens, sometimes are on the road without insurance already.
She argued to pass the bill just to say undocumented immigrants will be able to get insurance and therefore, the roads will be safer, is wrong.
Del. Herb McMillan, R-Annapolis, said the bill would bring more undocumented immigrants to the state, when poor citizens already are struggling.
“You can’t turn away people who are sick from a hospital who are going to be treatable. But if we are encouraging more people to come without the means to pay, we’re putting ourselves in a predicament,” McMillan said. “We’re asking our citizens… pick up the load and carry the slack. I think our people are under a lot of stress and strain already.”
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