Illegal Alien Driver's License Law to Cost CA Taxpayers Millions

According to Governor Jerry Brown’s own budget, providing illegal aliens driver’s licenses will cost California taxpayers $64.7 million dollars during the first six months the state issues such licenses, and up to $220 million after three years. (Capital Weekly, Jan. 10, 2014)  Illegal aliens are now eligible for California driver’s licenses pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 60, which passed California’s State Legislature in Sept. 2013. Assembly Bill 60 will go into effect January 1, 2015.

According to California DMV spokesman Armando Botello, the money budgeted for the new driver’s license law will cover the salaries and training of about 1,000 new employees and the opening of five service locations to accommodate the estimated 1.4 million illegal aliens who will now be seeking driver’s licenses in California. (Southern California Public Radio, Jan. 9, 2014)

New applicants under the program will be required to pay the same $33 fee, despite that under AB 60 a surcharge is permitted to offset the costs of implementation. (Assembly Bill 60; Capital Weekly, Jan. 10, 2014)   “It’s unbelievable that they’re doing this,” said Assemblyman Brian Jones, R-Santee. “My understanding is the applicant fee is supposed to pay for this.” (Capital Weekly, Jan. 10, 2014)

When he ran for governor in 2010, Brown said he opposed driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, but reversed his position late last year. (Id.) “This bill will enable millions of people to get to work safely and legally,” Brown said in a signing statement. (Id.) “Hopefully, it will send a message to Washington that immigration reform is long past due.” (Id.)  Governor Brown failed to acknowledge, however, that illegal aliens cannot work legally in the United States because they lack work authorization from the federal government.

California was one of eight states that adopted laws permitting illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses to illegal aliens in 2013, including Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, and Vermont. These states now join New Mexico, Washington, and Utah, which granted such eligibility in previous legislative sessions. Similar legislation was defeated in the following ten states in 2013: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Texas, and is pending in three states: Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, but is not currently moving.