{"id":128125,"date":"2016-02-15T19:52:19","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T02:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=128125"},"modified":"2016-02-15T20:13:23","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T03:13:23","slug":"drivers-license-compromise-heads-to-governors-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/02\/drivers-license-compromise-heads-to-governors-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver&#8217;s license compromise heads to governor&#8217;s desk"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_56542\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-56542\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg\" alt=\"A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.\" width=\"771\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-336x220.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-1170x764.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Susana Martinez has said she will sign the bill, which would end a bitter five-year political battle.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The state House of Representatives sent a bill to Gov. Susana Martinez <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148965\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Monday<\/span><\/span> that would make New Mexico compliant with the federal Real ID Act and continue to allow immigrants without legal status a way to legally drive.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Susana Martinez\u00a0has said she will sign <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legislation.aspx?chamber=H&amp;legtype=B&amp;legno=99&amp;year=16\" target=\"_blank\">the bill<\/a>, which would end\u00a0a bitter five-year political battle.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2016 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2015\/10\/nmpolitics-net-cant-exist-without-your-financial-support\/\" target=\"_blank\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The 65-1 vote signifies one of the greater accomplishments by lawmakers in the 30-day legislative session, which ends <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1197148966\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Thursday<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Immigrant advocates and Martinez were both satisfied with the legislation because it allows immigrants without legal status a way to legally drive and makes the state Real ID-compliant.<\/p>\n<p>Under the bill, U.S. citizens and immigrants with lawful status have the option to get a Real ID-compliant license. Those who don&#8217;t want a Real ID license and immigrants who can&#8217;t qualify for one could get a driving authorization card, but it would not be recognized as identification by some federal agencies.<\/p>\n<p>The Real ID-compliant licenses are needed to enter some\u00a0federal facilities. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says they will also eventually be needed to board a commercial plane flying domestically.<\/p>\n<p>The bill, which was heavily amended from its original version\u00a0during the legislative process,\u00a0also requires some immigrants without legal status to provide fingerprints to the state Motor Vehicle Division for a criminal background check in order to get the driving card. If the prints don&#8217;t match the name in data bases or the applicant has an outstanding warrant, those issues must be resolved before they could get a driving card.<\/p>\n<p>But the estimated 90,000 immigrants without legal status who already have a driver&#8217;s license would be grandfathered into the system to get a driving card without having to provide fingerprints.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Since 2011, Martinez asked lawmakers to repeal a 2003 law that allows immigrants without legal status to get driver&#8217;s licenses, arguing that allow them to get licenses\u00a0was dangerous. This year, the governor and Republican lawmakers softened their tone, agreeing to let\u00a0immigrants without legal status still drive legally with what they called a driving card.<\/p>\n<p>The Real ID Act of 2005 established minimum security standards for state-issued driver&#8217;s licenses. The standards include a Social Security number and proof of legal U.S. citizenship or legal admittance to the country.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government has repeatedly delayed enforcement. Currently it is saying that if the state is not compliant by 2018, New Mexicans\u00a0will need to show an alternative form of acceptable identification, such as a passport, to board\u00a0domestic flights.<\/p>\n<p>As of January 2016, 23 states were compliant with REAL ID.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Uriel J. Garcia at (505) 986-3062 or <a href=\"mailto:ugarcia@sfnewmexican.com\">ugarcia@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>. Follow him on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@ujohnnyg\" target=\"_blank\">@ujohnnyg<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Susana Martinez has said she will sign the bill, which would end a bitter five-year political battle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3250,140,270,2235,107,116],"class_list":["post-128125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","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\/128125","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=128125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128125\/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=128125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}