House committee passes Immigration Reform

(NASHVILLE), April 20, 2006 – The House Public Safety subcommittee approved legislation this week that would require all written driver’s license examinations be given in English. House Republicans sponsored the measure, House Bill 242, which now moves to the full House Transportation Committee. It passed the Senate on Wednesday. A half-dozen other states have similar laws on the books to prevent those here illegally from obtaining a license to drive.

House Democrats have killed a host of other measures aimed at reforming laws that attract illegal immigrants to Tennessee. Last week, legislation that would have begun a program to allow Tennessee Highway Patrol officers to enforce illegal immigration laws was defeated. In March, legislation that would have ended Tennessee’s driving certificate program for undocumented workers was derailed in the House Transportation Committee. On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced the ringleader of a plot to shuttle immigrants into Tennessee for the certificates to 46 months in jail.

Election reform measure stalled

As the state Senate took bi-partisan action to remove Sen. Ophelia Ford from office by voiding her election, House Democrats defeated legislation that would have required a photo ID to vote in Tennessee elections. House Bill 3193 was voted down along party lines in the House Elections subcommittee.

Sen. Ford’s election was voided because ballots cast by deceased individuals, felons, and people who live outside the district constituted her margin of victory. The legislation requiring a photo ID would not have allowed undocumented workers with Tennessee driving certificates to vote.