S.B. 6: No Driver’s License for Illegal Aliens
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, February 27, 2015 – By Sue Ella Deadwyler
I’m always amazed when I think about giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens; surely, that can’t happen in Georgia under a Republican Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and a General Assembly with a comfortable Republican majority, where the House Speaker and Senate President Pro Tem are both Republicans. In fact, House Republicans are only one vote shy of a two-thirds majority, which means they could pass anything they want to pass. That caused me to wonder why they don’t pass bills that uphold the law and the Constitution, when they could pass anything they want.
Considering their overwhelming majority, I came to this conclusion. They DO pass bills they want to pass, and obviously, they don’t want to stop illegal aliens from getting driver’s licenses. If they did, S.B. 6 would be well on its way to becoming law. But it’s not.
Only 12 of 56 senators cosigned with Senator Josh McKoon when he introduced S.B. 6 on January 28th. It was assigned to the Public Safety Committee, where it’s been stalled ever since. So, I have some questions. Why would duly elected lawmakers hesitate to cosponsor a bill to prohibit the issuance of legal documents to people who break the law to come here and are breaking the law to stay here? Why would the Senate Public Safety committee hesitate to give S.B. 6 a hearing? Don’t they want it to be openly debated? What or who is stopping S.B. 6? Is the lobby for illegal aliens THAT powerful? These are the facts. Republicans in the Georgia General Assembly hold an overwhelming majority and can pass anything they want to pass, which should include S.B. 6 that simply stops the illegal act of giving legal documents to unlawful people. It states that deferred action for deportation would not be proof of lawful status in Georgia; illegal aliens could not qualify for welfare benefits; their vehicle could be impounded if they were caught driving without a valid license; and the Department of Driver Services would use the Information E-Verify system to check their legal status.
Of 743 Georgians interviewed in mid-February, 64 percent approve of S.B. 6. So it needs to pass. Call Public Safety Committee Chairman Harper at 404 463-5263 and ask him to pass S.B. 6 out of his committee. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.