500 more Utah residents to get driver privilege cards
SALT LAKE CITY — About 500 non-U.S. citizens have Utah drivers' licenses — something that's now illegal under a new law.
"Which is quite alarming when I've talked to people," Nanette Rolfe, Utah Driver License Division director told the Transportation Interim Committee Wednesday. "I don't think they realized there were that many individuals who maybe could have been voting or could have been getting benefits."
Rolfe was updating the legislative committee on the status of SB81, signed into law in 2008 to help tackle illegal immigration, and the federal REAL ID Act, which attempts to close some loopholes identified by the 9/11 Commission.
Beginning this year, people seeking a Utah driver's license must prove they are U.S. citizens. If they cannot prove they are citizens, they can get driver privilege or state identification cards. The new rules have caused long lines at driver license divisions statewide.
The 500 immigrants who are not supposed to have drivers' licenses are in the process of getting driver privilege cards. Additionally, 352 people in Utah are not citizens but are here legally and used to have a driver privilege card or state ID. Now, they can receive a "limited term license" from the state, Rolfe said.
"So SB81 — there's a lot of concern and a lot of discussion we've had over the past few years," Rolfe said, referring to concerns from minority communities that it goes too far or is even racist. "But from the driver license perspective, it's doing exactly what SB81 intended."
In February, the Legislature passed HB234, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, which requires the state to opt out of the REAL ID act, but Sandstrom added a provision that allows the state to comply with SB81. On March 17, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano sent a letter to Gov. Gary Herbert addressing the state's decision not to comply with the federal law.
"There's lots of talk that REAL ID is going to go away," Rolfe said. "It's very evident that Homeland Security plans to continue. On May 10, 2011, they will implement those requirements.
Utah drivers' licenses must meet the standards of REAL ID for Utahns to board airplanes, enter nuclear power plants and any federal facility. For the most part, Utah IDs will be up to the national standard.
But any future changes or modifications of REAL ID — even those that will help the states from an administrative standpoint — will be illegal for Rolfe and her staff to implement because of HB234. "I think that is the one concern we expressed when this bill passed," she said.
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