Friday, March 8, 2019

Milwaukee County JSGS Committee Approved Resolution Supporting Governor Evers Effort To Allow Undocumented Drivers Get Licenses In Wisconsin

The proposed 19-273 resolution, if approved by the full Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors on March 21 will support Governor Tony Evers (D) effort to allow for the Wisconsin State legislature to grant driver's licenses for undocumented drivers in the state.

By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 8, 2019

Milwaukee, WI - On Thursday,  the Milwaukee County Judiciary, Safety and General Services Committee (JSGS) approved the endorsement for Resolution 19-273 on a vote of 3-2 for the Wisconsin State Legislature to allow full access of driver's licenses for 32K undocumented immigrants and more than 230K eligible drivers whose licenses have been suspended for owing fines. 
JSGS Committee Supervisors voting in favor of the resolution were Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (Vice Chair), Steven Shea and Anthony Staskunas (Chairman). Supervisors voting against the resolution were Deanna Alexander and Patti Dogsdon.
The resolution sponsored by Supervisor Sylvia Ortiz-Velez and co-sponsored by Supervisor Willie Johnson Jr. now goes before the full Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors on March 21.

Proposed resolution: https://bit.ly/2NJ6Yb2

For those that lack the proper information, undocumented drivers can get insurance in Wisconsin, a driver's license is just a form of ID with the ability to drive and it is not a U.S. Citizenship card, which legal status permanent residents who are not U.S. Citizens can apply for a driver's license in WI and having a WI driver's license doesn't automatically allow a person the right to vote, it is just a document to prove residency and who the person is. The GOP rhetoric is still alive in dealing with driver's licences and the undocumented. There are at least 12 states that offer driver's licenses to the undocumented drivers in the U.S. The states include, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Vermont, and Washington, also the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have laws in their books that allow undocumented drivers to apply for a driver's license or driving permit, while New York and New Jersey are currently debating whether to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for licenses as a public road safety issue.
San Francisco, CA; New Haven CT; Asbury Park, NJ and Milwaukee, WI offer some form of municipal ID's for undocumented immigrants with a stipulation not be used for driving or voting.
In Wisconsin, there has been no case in which an undocumented immigrant or a legal status permanent resident that has ever been charged and convicted for voting illegally, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice and feds.
This is a safe roads issue and if anyone doesn't support it, than they rather keep the roads unsafe for their families.

Other stats: 

The benefits: Safe roads, annual premium insurance cost savings, millions of revenue generated by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), if more than 32,000 undocumented residents that work in the dairy, manufacturing, restaurants, hospitality and other industries are allowed to apply for a driver's license in the state.

According to the Kids Forward, a liberal research organization on November 13, 2018 released a report that 32,000 undocumented residents in Wisconsin lacked a valid driver's licence. https://bit.ly/2XOXorI


• 28,000 of undocumented drivers don't have insurance

• Some of the 22,000 of those undocumented drivers are employed in dairy farms and other industries

In Wisconsin:

• Improved family stability. An estimated 32,000 residents of Wisconsin would gain driver licenses, with 12,000 of those residents living with children who are U.S. citizens.Additional workers with the qualifications that employers need. About 22,000 workers would obtain licenses, including 8,000 that work in the manufacturing sector and 7,000 that work in the leisure and hospitality industry.

• Fewer uninsured drivers. The number of Wisconsin drivers who don't have insurance would drop by an estimated 28,000. The share of drivers who are on the road who don't have insurance would drop from 14.3 percent to 13.6 percent.

• Lower insurance premiums. With fewer uninsured drivers, drivers with insurance would be less likely to make claims against their own insurance for accidents involving uninsured drivers. The result would be $16 million in premium savings for drivers who already have insurance. https://bit.ly/2NO1VWY


Revenue for the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicle would generate more than $1,088,000 every 8 eight years including doubling-tripling the revenue for replacing a lost license, paying $35 for a driving permit and another $35 for 12 months permit renewal, other types of occupational and commercial driving licenses as well and etc., if the 32,000 undocumented drivers were allowed to pay $34.00 for a regular valid driver license. https://bit.ly/2TBcYYN


Source: Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

A study by the Southern Economic Journal in Feb. 2015 indicated that denying driver licenses to the undocumented would increase the cost of insurance by $17.22 ($2009) annually across states that have enacted such restrictions. https://bit.ly/2XMZ9WK


Politifact reported, that in states where illegal immigrants have been allowed to get driver's licenses, the "insurance premiums for everybody have gone down."

To put that in perspective, the average automobile insurance policy in the United States in 2013 cost $841.23 per year, according to the latest data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. A savings of $17.22 would amount to a 2 percent drop. (It would be about 1.6 percent in Rhode Island where the average policy cost $1,066, the eighth highest in the nation.) https://bit.ly/2Toldsa


Undocumented immigrants contributed more than $94M in Wisconsin state and local taxes, according to ITEP (2010). https://bit.ly/2XIu7z2

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