Friends and neighbors –
You may have heard about this bill to provide driver’s licenses to noncitizens, or Driver’s Licenses for All. It is being billed as a simple public safety fix, but it’s not. It is much more extreme than that.
- It poses real risks to national security. The license will be the same as other licenses, making it easy to access military bases and federal buildings until REAL ID takes effect in 2025.
- It undermines the integrity of elections. Because the IDs are identical to the real thing, illegal immigrants could easily use them to register to vote. The sharing of data with the Secretary of State is prohibited, so nothing cannot be tracked or checked.
I know a lot of folks are supportive of driver’s licenses for noncitizens in general, and I respect that view. But the current bill is overly expansive and has serious flaws. I cannot support it in its present form. If they want to earn my vote, they’ll have to start by making a few important changes to protect our national security and our elections.
Keeping children safe when they get on and off the school bus
The number of drivers who flagrantly disregard school bus stop arms, even with the safety measures we have in place, is a shock to us all. We have had experts in Transportation Committee say that there are as many as 250,000 violations every year, which is not only unacceptable but a catastrophe waiting to happen.
However, we have made significant progress in recent years to address this issue. By equipping every school bus with outward-facing cameras, we have taken steps to crack down on violators. This week, the Transportation Committee had the opportunity to hear two Republican bills that aim to build on this momentum. One of these bills, for example, would require stop-arms to be several feet bigger, a measure that has already shown to reduce incidents by 89% in areas where it has been adopted.
Contact me:
If you have any questions about any issues we are working on at the legislature, feel free to contact me any time at sen.john.jasinski@senate.mn or 651-296-0284.
And you can always get the latest news from St. Paul on my Facebook page at fb.com/SenatorJohnJasinski.
It is a privilege to serve you!