LANSING – Against the backdrop of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Michigan Senate approved a series of bills that will enact provisions of the controversial federal Real ID Act, as well as clarify that legal foreign residents can obtain driver’s licenses.
In passing SB 962 , SB 963 , SB 964 , SB 964, SB 965 and SB 1057 , the debate grew so rancorous in the Senate that three times Lt. Governor John Cherry had to bring down the gavel to calm the members.
Ironically, at one point during the debate Sen. Valde Garcia (R-Howell) introduced a group of school kids and said from the floor that Senate members could have a debate without “throwing snowballs or calling each other names.” But shortly after the students left, members got close to calling each other names.
Real ID provisions require that driver’s licenses and other forms of state identification meet certain requirements that establish the validity of the identity of the individual. Adopted by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush in 2005, implementation of the law has been pushed back in efforts to try to win more state support for the proposal.
The proposal has been fiercely controversial across the nation, with critics charging that the provision essentially creates a national identification system, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security denies in its web site.
The issue over temporary foreign residents getting driver’s licenses was ignited following a late December opinion by Attorney General Mike Cox which held that illegal immigrants could not get licenses. In January, Secretary of State Terri Land issued rules implementing the opinion that kept individuals here legally though temporarily, on a student or work visa for example, from getting a license.
The action has led to official concerns expressed by the Japanese government and warnings from Indian companies that they will not expand into the state.
But the issue has also raised questions from both the Department of Attorney General and the Department of State over whether each has understood the other in the ruling and rules. Senate Democrats charged there was no reason to tie the Real ID provision to solving the issue over accessibility to licenses “because your secretary of state misinterpreted your attorney general’s opinion.”
Democrats attempted to win approval of a substitute to SB 962, the main bill, which would deal only with the issue of license availability to temporary immigrants.
But Sen. Alan Sanborn (R-Richmond) charged that failing to adopt the bills with the Real ID provisions “sanctions illegal behavior and is a betrayal of your oath of office.”
What would be the reaction if another September 11th happened, Sanborn said, as the terrorists involved in those attacks had acquired numerous licenses and identification cards from different states (Michigan was not one of those states).
Garcia then warned against playing “fast and loose” with the facts surrounding September 11th. All the terrorists involved had gained legal entry to the U.S., he said, and they committed fraud in obtaining some of their licenses.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt) said there were many reasons to vote against any provision to strip the Real ID portions from the bill, including that the federal government has said it could help finance the cost of implementing the provisions.
However, Bush’s latest budget proposal does not call for funding Real ID implementation and the Homeland Security website says that states are expected to use a portion of their homeland security grants to help pay those costs.
Sen. Ray Basham (D-Taylor) said that the National Conference of State Legislatures has estimated that implementing Real ID could cost the states as much as $11 billion.
The proposed substitute was defeated on a 16-21 straight party line vote.
But a number of Democrats said despite their reservations they would vote for the main bill to help keep the issue moving. Final passage of both SB 962 and SB 963 occurred on a 28-9 vote. Opponents were all Democrats.
SB 964, SB 965 and SB 966 all passed on 37-0 votes. SB 1075 , which sets up sentencing guidelines for violation of the Real ID act, passed on a 32-5 vote.
Governor Jennifer Granholm has called for the issue of driver’s licenses for foreign-born residents to be resolved separately from the Real ID provisions, and some Senate Democrats said they expected different bills to come from the House.
However, speaking to reporters after session, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) said he would expect the Real ID provisions to be adopted by the House since the state will have to adopt the provisions at some point.
On the House side, the Transportation Committee has slated House-originated legislation and the Senate bills on its agenda for its Thursday meeting.
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