{"id":27061,"date":"2011-03-10T07:17:20","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T14:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=27061"},"modified":"2011-03-10T14:26:44","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T21:26:44","slug":"senate-votes-to-keep-licenses-for-undocumented-immigrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/03\/senate-votes-to-keep-licenses-for-undocumented-immigrants\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate votes to keep licenses for undocumented immigrants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Peter St. Cyr)<\/p><\/div>\n

The New Mexico Senate rejected late Wednesday a House-approved proposal that would repeal a law that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver\u2019s licenses.<\/p>\n

The Senate instead passed legislation that, in the words of a news release from Senate Democrats, \u201cprovides for stricter and tougher requirements for\u00a0foreign nationals\u00a0to obtain\u00a0driver\u2019s licenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIncluded among the amendments is a six-month residency requirement as well as fingerprints for foreign nationals in order to be eligible for a N.M. driver\u2019s license,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n

The Senate-approved bill seeks to address concerns about people fraudulently obtaining licenses while still allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain licenses. That puts the Senate at odds with Gov. Susana Martinez<\/a> on what has become her top legislative priority \u2013 or at least the one for which she is fighting hardest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following nearly four hours of debate, the bill passed the Senate on a vote of 25-16 just before midnight. You can see how each member voted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Give it a chance\u2019<\/h3>\n

House Bill 78<\/a> now heads back to the House, which will vote on whether to agree with the Senate changes. If the House doesn\u2019t do that, a conference committee will meet \u2013 in public \u2013 to try to reconcile the House and Senate bills.<\/p>\n

One Senate Democrat \u2013 John Arthur Smith<\/a> of Deming \u2013 voted with Republicans against the Senate bill. No Republicans voted for the bill, which prompted Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings<\/a>, D-Roswell, to express surprise. Jennings proposed amendments that led to the legislation being toughened on the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy amendments were offered in good faith in addressing concerns about security issues,\u201d Jennings said in a news release. \u201cOn an issue as difficult, emotional and divisive as this one is, it is important to keep our minds open to compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Linda Lovejoy<\/a>, D-Crownpoint, praised the legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like this compromise,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has humanity to it. Give it a chance to try it. If it doesn\u2019t work, we can come back and change things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Governor promises to keep fighting<\/h3>\n

Martinez has been heavily lobbying the Legislature to repeal the driver\u2019s license law, and her efforts got a boost last week when the House approved the bill<\/a> sponsored by Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez<\/a>, DTS-Hatch. The House-approved bill would simply require proof of citizenship or other legal status in order to obtain a driver\u2019s license.<\/p>\n

But the Senate isn\u2019t easily influenced by outside pressure, and Martinez\u2019s lobbying didn\u2019t appear to sway many \u2013 or perhaps any \u2013 Senate votes.<\/p>\n

Martinez criticized Senate Democrats in a news release, calling their vote \u201cunfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of\u00a0New Mexico\u00a0sent a loud and clear message that they want this dangerous law repealed, but some in the Legislature chose to shut out the voices of their constituents in favor of partisan political gamesmanship,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI promised the people of New Mexico that I will fight to repeal this law, and that fight will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Republicans were equally upset.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not solve the problem tonight,\u201d said Sen. John Ryan<\/a>, R-Albuquerque. \u201cOnce again, we have something that puts New Mexico on the wrong list.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Mexico Senate rejected late Wednesday a House-approved proposal that would repeal a law that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain driver\u2019s licenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-27061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27061","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=27061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}