Expired Driver's License Issue Soon Resolved

State Rep. Randy Terrill and State Sen. Cliff Aldridge today (January 28, 2008) praised the state Department of Public Safety for simplifying the process for people to renew expired driver's licenses.

"The people of Oklahoma do not want the state to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens," said Aldridge, R-Midwest City. "At the same time, however, citizens do not want to be needlessly inconvenienced. DPS' actions have ensured that we are responding to the will of the people on both counts."

Due to the passage of House Bill 1804, Oklahoma's omnibus immigration reform law, individuals with an expired driver's license must now provide proof of legal presence in the United States - for citizens, typically an original, certified birth certificate - before they can renew an expired driver's license.

As a result, individuals with an expired license have had to obtain a copy of their birth certificate and take it to the Department of Public Safety for verification before obtaining a license at a tag agency.

However, DPS will soon allow tag agents to examine and verify birth certificates onsite, eliminating the hassle created by an initial administrative interpretation of the new law. As a result, most drivers will once again be able to renew a license by visiting just one office.

In February, DPS will begin training tag agents to identify fraudulent birth certificates. (DPS officials will continue to serve as the examiners of all documents other than an original, certified birth certificate ─ including but not limited to passports, certificates of naturalization and visas.)

Aldridge predicted the new system will eliminate the inconvenience faced by the vast majority of Oklahomans who allow their driver's license to expire.

"We've been working with Commissioner Kevin Ward and DPS staff to minimize the burden placed on U.S. citizens while preserving the essential and important purpose behind House Bill 1804," Terrill said. "I sincerely appreciate DPS' efforts to simplify the implementation of House Bill 1804 while also ensuring that illegal aliens cannot obtain a state driver's license."

When House Bill 1804 was debated last year, proponents of the bill wanted to stop illegal aliens from obtaining state identification and prevent the state of Oklahoma from being forced to recognize driver's licenses issued in other states that give IDs to illegal aliens.

The bill was also designed to weed out illegal aliens who had previously obtained an Oklahoma driver's license.

Terrill noted that lawmakers had only three options for addressing the problem: do nothing, which was unacceptable; require everyone seeking to renew a driver's license to provide proof of legal presence, which would be untenable; or split the difference.

Officials decided to target only those individuals who let their license expire as a compromise that should gradually eliminate illegal aliens wrongfully in possession of official ID through attrition.

"DPS' decision strikes the appropriate balance between the rights of citizens and those who are lawfully present in this country and the need to weed out illegal aliens who have fraudulently obtained a driver's license," Terrill said.

"This agreement is just the latest example of our ongoing commitment to monitoring the implementation of House Bill 1804 and, if and when any problems are identified, our pledge to fix them in a way that any burdens placed on citizens are minimized while the integrity and purpose of House Bill 1804 is maintained."

Slam the brakes on this bill

The Norman Transcript Editorial
Slam the brakes on this bill
Published: January 18, 2008

A bill filed by Rep. Scott Inman, D-Del City, would require that previous DUI or DWI convictions be noted on driver's licenses. The press release announcing this measure cited statistics on alcohol-related fatalities and quoted Mr. Inman's denunciation of drunken drivers at length, but failed to explain how adding more information to the driver's license would help.

"This is a measure that I believe will help reduce the number of alcohol-related deaths by providing information to the drinking establishments that this person has a history of drinking and driving," Mr. Inman said in the release. "Hopefully, the establishment will stop serving the customer after a few drinks."

Has Mr. Inman ever been in a bar? They only card you to make sure you're over 21. A regular customer, one who's in the bar often enough to be a familiar face, isn't going to get carded, having already established proof of age. The drinking establishment isn't going to see that information unless our drinker switches his custom to a new bar and is under the age of 35.

And why wait until someone has a DUI or DWI conviction before taking steps to prevent that person from driving drunk? Why foist all the responsibility off on the bars? It's up to all of us, whenever we drink or serve alcohol, to make sure nobody staggers off to their car.

There's a public safety reason behind tagging a sex offender's driver's license so a stranger asking for ID -- say, a convenience store clerk -- can be on guard.

But who, asking for ID, needs to know about an old DUI? A police officer making a traffic stop -- who already has quick access to that information. If you've ever received a traffic ticket, you know the drill. The officer takes your license, calls it in and the dispatcher radios back with your driving record.

No, the point of this bill is the old high school threat, "This is going to go down on your permanent record." It's designed to embarrass the offender every time he writes a check, boards an airplane, buys a pack of cigarettes... And it's designed to make Mr. Inman look good.

So why stop with DUIs? Why not speeders, who also cause fatal accidents, along with folks who run red lights or text message on their cell phones while driving? Put everyone's past sins on there.

We hope our legislators will vote against this turkey if it gets to the floor. We're not asking them to be soft on drunken drivers, we're asking them to be hard on people who want to waste the taxpayers' money on self-serving, grandiose posturing.