Commentary: A key committee in the New Mexico Senate tonight unanimously approved House Bill 99, a bipartisan- compromise legislation to make the state’s driver’s licenses compliant with federal REAL ID requirements. The bill now advances to the floor for a full vote of Senate. The amended bill would make New Mexico driver’s licenses compliant with the federal REAL ID Act if approved by the House of Representatives and signed by the Governor.
“Senator Ingle and I worked collectively to negotiate this solution after six years of impasse,” said Senator John Arthur Smith (D-35-Doña Ana, Hidalgo, Luna & Sierra). “This bipartisan compromise makes New Mexico compliant with REAL ID and allows us to move forward to put this divisive issue behind us, and solve other serious problems.”
The Senate Finance Committee amended the legislation to require fingerprints of those applying for driver’s authorization cards that are not REAL ID compliant. But fingerprints are only required of undocumented immigrants who are applying for a driver’s authorization cardfor the first time. An additional amendment was approved that allows fingerprints to be sent to the FBI for the purposes of background checks.
HB 99 was amended in the Senate Public Affairs Committee (SPAC) to contain Senate Bill 256, which was sponsored by the Democratic Finance Chair, Sen. Smith, and the Senate Minority Floor Leader, Sen. Stuart Ingle (R-27-Chaves, Curry, De B, Lea & Rsvlt). It was approved by SPAC 8 to 1 and then unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee with no changes. HB 99 now reflects most of the Senate’s bipartisan measure, SB 256.
Many New Mexicans are concerned about their privacy and identity theft because of the amount of information required to obtain a REAL ID compliant driver’s license. Reflecting those concerns, HB 99 allows individuals residing in New Mexico with lawful presence the choice to instead apply for a driver’s authorization card, which would be available to undocumented immigrants.