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Partisan rancor

State lawmakers begin session by making divisive political statements

The Colorado State Legislature last week got down to business, it appears, turning its focus to making statements on social issues. Beginning with a Senate committee’s swift execution of a housekeeping bill that would have clarified the interaction between civil unions and marriage – prohibiting people from being a party to both arrangements simultaneously – and moving expeditiously to the Joint Budget Committee’s move not to authorize spending for the immigrant driver’s license program, the state’s Republican legislators are revealing a disappointing agenda for 2015. Colorado deserves better.

The Joint Budget Committee on Friday failed to allow the spending needed to carry out the state’s program that provides driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants – a move that likely will shutter four of five offices that provide the service. The authorization was, as in the case of the civil union/same-sex marriage measure, largely a housekeeping measure that would have allowed the state to spend money already committed when the Legislature enacted the measure that initiated the licensing program. It is a backdoor means of making a strong political statement with real implications for Colorado safety.

The driver’s license program was designed to ensure that Colorado’s roads are safer for all who use them. Those with driver’s licenses are far more likely to be insured, to report accidents and to stay on scene when accidents occur. None of these benefits are related to immigration status, though anyone – documented or otherwise – without a valid driver’s license is positioned precariously with respect to car accidents. The 2013 Legislature was correct to separate driver and passenger-safety issues from whether drivers are in the country legally. Further, the program is sustained by user fees for the licenses, though some start-up costs were paid by the state. The Joint Budget Committee plainly quashed the program by not approving spending for it.

What is worse, though, is that the Republicans who forced the tie vote that killed the spending measure are playing dumb. Instead of acknowledging the intent and the effect of their action, lawmakers are claiming that they did not believe the spending had to be reauthorized since the program pays for itself. Were it actually a matter of confusion about procedure, a simple explanation to the bewildered lawmakers could have cleared things up. No one who voted to kill the spending measure has thus far asked to revisit the issue based on their new understanding of the affair. That suggests something a bit less innocent at work, namely that of a statement of a position decidedly anti-immigrant. It is in keeping with what is revealing itself to be a markedly conservative social agenda for Colorado’s Republican legislators.

If this is merely the beginning, it will be a lengthy and difficult session indeed.



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