Keep Oregon Insured

Public safety should not be compromised by new license requirements

The Oregon legislature will convene in a special session next month as a prelude to asking Oregon voters for the privilege of meeting in annual sessions.

One of the bills legislators will consider is a bill to place citizenship requirements on obtaining a driver's license.

Barely half of committee members showed up for the hearing where the vote to refer this bill took place. The vote was taken prior to public testimony being heard. Fewer than half of the members of the committee remained to hear public testimony on the issue.

What the committee members who did not attend missed was a 4000 person rally that went on for more than 4 hours. They missed staff setting up overflow seating in second and third committee rooms, even in the hallway.

The overwhelming majority of these people -- there were no counter protesters -- were there for the right to obtain insurance and to drive on Oregon roads.

An op-ed in the Sunday Oregonian discussed how little politicians understand latino cultures in the United States.

That includes Oregon's migrant workers. A recent Pew survey indicated that more than 70 percent of households with one or more undocumented workers are of mixed legal status where one or more family members, often children, are legal citizens.

Although it is incumbent on the legislature to sever the link between obtaining an Oregon driver's license and obtaining citizenship, it is also incumbent on the legislature to ensure the safety and security of people of Oregon.

These two principles should not be at odds with one another. Encouraging undocumented workers to obtain a termporary permit and to obtain insurance before driving on Oregon roads is a public safety issue.

The failure to do so will not stop people from driving. It will simply put more uninsured motorists on Oregon roads, and drive undocumented workers further underground. It will deepen the mistrust and division that already exists towards Oregon's migrant workers.

Taking away driving privileges from a class of people who have no voice in this institution is not only a bad moral choice, it is bad public policy.

The Oregon legislature should implement temporary driving permits for undocumented workers that neither conveys, nor implies, legal citizenship for workers who cannot prove legal residency.