By Alexei Koseff
Columbus, OH. There is perhaps no bigger, or more hard-fought, change coming to California State in 2015 than immigrant driver’s licenses, which the California Department of Motor Vehicles will begin issuing today, according to Capitol Alert News.
Under AB 60, applicants will need only to prove their identity and California residency, rather than their legal presence in the state, which could allow approximately 1.4 million undocumented immigrants to obtain licenses in the next three years.
It’s been a long road to this point. Immigrant advocates have pushed for the driver’s licenses for more than 15 years, with former lawmaker Gil Cedillo introducing numerous versions of the bill during his time in the state Senate and Assembly. The effort hit a major speed bump in 2003, when one of them was signed by then-Gov. Gray Davis, only to be repealed after his recall.
Gov. Jerry Brown finally gave the green light in 2013, reversing his opposition and signing the legislation because of “foot-dragging on the part of Congress and not creating immigration reform.”
During the subsequent year, which included some debate with federal authorities over the design of the licenses, the DMV said it conducted nearly 200 community workshops, opened four more license processing centers, and hired 900 employees to prepare for the expected influx of applications.
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