{"id":125938,"date":"2016-02-10T10:10:57","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T17:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=125938"},"modified":"2016-02-10T10:10:57","modified_gmt":"2016-02-10T17:10:57","slug":"support-growing-for-senates-bipartisan-real-id-compliance-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/02\/support-growing-for-senates-bipartisan-real-id-compliance-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Support growing for Senate\u2019s bipartisan Real ID compliance bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

Even some of Gov. Susana Martinez’s most ardent supporters, including the Albuquerque Journal and the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, have publicly supported the Senate\u2019s amended version of House Bill 99, the authors write.<\/p><\/div>\n

COMMENTARY:<\/strong>\u00a0The list of citizens, commerce organizations, lawmakers and some of the governor\u2019s most staunch supporters is growing for the State Senate\u2019s bipartisan solution to become compliant with federal Real ID regulations. Gov.\u00a0Susana Martinez\u2019s steadfast refusal to put this issue behind us and accept a proposal that can satisfy the citizens of New Mexico must come to an end.<\/p>\n

Even some of her most ardent supporters, including the Albuquerque Journal and the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, among others, have each publicly supported the Senate\u2019s amended version of House Bill 99<\/a> (HB 99), Driver\u2019s License Issuance and Federal Real ID. This widely accepted bipartisan compromise began last year when two of the Senate\u2019s most senior members, Senator John Arthur Smith (D-35-Do\u00f1a Ana, Hidalgo, Luna & Sierra) and Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle (R-27-Chaves, Curry, DeBaca, Lea & Roosevelt), decided that the issue needed to be resolved.<\/p>\n

The Albuquerque Journal in its Feb.\u00a04 editorial<\/a> urges all of us to \u201cput aside less serious ancillary concerns that could derail this important legislation when it is so close to the finish line.\u201d One of these concerns is the issue of fingerprints, which 10 other states that issue driver\u2019s privileges to undocumented immigrants do not require. The original version of HB 99 required fingerprints and was modeled after Utah\u2019s current law, which required fingerprints be sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s (FBI) \u201cNext Generation Identification and Identification Services.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FBI blocked Utah\u2019s request to access the database and would likely do the same if New Mexico were to require it. With a compromise palatable to the majority of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the Senate, and quite possibly the House of Representatives, the Journal\u2019s editorial further states, fingerprinting is \u201cnot required by Real ID, and of the 10 other states or jurisdictions that provide driving privileges to undocumented immigrants \u2026 such a requirement could be added in a later year if it turns out to be necessary. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

A Roundhouse columnist<\/a> with The Santa Fe New Mexican is also behind the Senate\u2019s approach to becoming Real ID compliant and chimes in: \u201cThe Senate\u2019s plan to settle the long debate on driver\u2019s licenses also would help police officers. Martinez and House Republicans want immigrants to be fingerprinted as a condition of receiving a driving authorization card. Facial imaging on licenses already provides better security than would the additional expense of fingerprinting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the two senators\u2019 sincere commitment to finding a compromise, we are closer today to finally resolving this issue than we have been in many years. Despite the political rhetoric and misinformation generated from the governor\u2019s office that has disingenuously clouded the issue of Real ID compliance, we can now focus our attention on issues that affect all New Mexicans, like the current state of our economy and the lack of jobs.<\/p>\n

The State Senate is committed to resolving this issue and making it clear to all New Mexicans that they now have a personal choice to comply with Real ID criteria or to opt out, while treating all drivers with the dignity and respect that has been the hallmark of our great state.<\/p>\n

We encourage the governor and her allies in the House of Representatives to join many of those who initially opposed allowing driver\u2019s privileges to undocumented immigrants and support the Senate\u2019s amendments to HB 99. It is time to move past REAL ID and focus on the real issues confronting our state.<\/p>\n

This commentary was submitted by 20 Democratic members of the N.M. Senate:\u00a0Joseph Cervantes, Carlos R. Cisneros, Daniel A. Ivey-Soto, Linda M. Lopez, Richard C. Martinez, Cisco McSorley, Howie C. Morales, George K. Mu\u00f1oz, Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Majority Whip Michael Padilla, President Pro Tempore Mary Kay Papen, John Pinto, Nancy Rodriguez, Clemente Sanchez, Majority Floor Leader Michael S. Sanchez, John M. Sapien, Benny Shendo, Jr., William P. Soules, Mimi Stewart, and Peter Wirth.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even some of Gov. Susana Martinez’s most ardent supporters, including the Albuquerque Journal and the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, have publicly supported the Senate\u2019s amended version of House Bill 99.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[3250,140,270,2235,107,116],"class_list":["post-125938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-2016-legislative-session","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-drivers-licenses","tag-national-security","tag-roundhouse","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}