ALBANY -- Undocumented immigrants might be able to get driver's licenses in New York if a new bill is passed in the state Legislature.
But the fate of the measure faces uncertainty before the legislative session ends in June. The fight over the proposal dates back more than a decade.
Still, advocates for the bill on Wednesday rallied at the state Capitol, saying it is about time New York joined 12 other states that allow for it.
“This is not the first time that a proposal has come forward extending driver's licenses to more New Yorkers,” Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, D-Bronx, who sponsors the bill.
“This is a better version. This is the right time, and this is the right thing to do for the state of New York for a number of reasons.”
If passed, the Driver License Access and Privacy Act would allow immigrants in the country illegally to get driver's licenses using a passport that was issued in another country as identification.
In instances when individuals are required to give a Social Security number, the law would then allow for them to sign an affidavit saying that they had not received one, but it would not prevent them from getting a license.
Advocates said the law would give immigrants an important right and avoid them driving illegally.
If passed, registration fees, sales taxes and gas taxes would add an estimated $57 million in annual state and county revenues, according to the New York Immigration Coalition, an advocacy group.
An estimated 265,000 immigrants would get licenses if the law is signed, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute, a labor-backed think tank. That estimate includes 500 licenses in Binghamton,1,000 in Utica, 2,500 in Buffalo and 3,000 in Rochester.
Obtaining an license would allow individuals to more quickly and easily get to and from work, medical appointments and bring children to school, supporters said.
The Democratic-led Assembly sounded supportive of the measure, but it faces an uphill fight in the Republican-controlled Senate, which has not backed it.
"The Assembly has been supportive of integrating people to become members of our communities," said Michael Whyland, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, D-Bronx.
The debate in New York on the issue goes back more than a decade.
In 2007, then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, issued an executive order that allowed for undocumented individuals to obtain driver's licenses by showing a foreign passport as identification.
But the plan was ripped by Republicans and drew national attention, leading Spitzer to drop his plans.
