Once again, ignoring all economic woes affecting the state, turning a blind eye to a 35% increase in Illegal Aliens in the state, while the rest of the country showed a slight decline or remained steady, a bill to block granting Illegal Aliens in the state a valid Washington drivers license was killed in the Senate in the waning seconds before the “cut-off” time, where no non-budget, Senate bill may be passed and referred on to the House.

With 5 minutes to go before that “cut-off,” Senator Mark Schoesler (R-Ritzville, Adams County) motioned for consideration of SB 5407, a bill “Concerning the issuance of drivers’ licenses, drivers’ instruction permits, juvenile agricultural driving permits, and identicards.”

Senator Schoesler was attempting to allow the Senate to vote on the bill that was blocked from the Senate calendar by the Democrat Speaker Lisa Brown (Spokane). His motion failed 23-25 with this bills primary sponsor, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, (D-Camano Island) joining the ‘No’ votes.

Of that apparent ‘flip-flop,’ Haugen said,

“Nothing is ever dead in the Legislature. I’m going to go talk to the governor. I’d ask the governor that she needs to stand and take leadership in this role. She needs to recognize what’s happening in this nation.”

When was the last time governor Gregoire actually stood up for citizens in Washington State? If the Democrat Speaker refuses to recognize what is happening in the country, what makes her believe the Democrat governor will?

Indicating that Haugen’s efforts with the bill were not as altruistic as we might think, we read where she says “for years she had stopped similar bills because she was worried about the impact on the farm industry, which employs a significant number of illegal immigrants using fake identification,” adding that “her bill would put restrictions on identification fraud by imposing stricter rules on state residency, [and] illegal immigrants in the state would have not been affected by the proposed law.”

From The Daily News online we read, “Washington state is one of [only] two in the country that let illegal immigrants obtain driver’s licenses. New Mexico is the other state that still allows such practice, but lawmakers there are also considering bills to close the access.”

Soon, Washington State might be the ‘ONLY’ state that will grant those in the country in open violation of our laws driver’s licenses without some proof of citizenship.

Little wonder Washington State sees a 35% increase in Illegal Aliens over the last 3 years.

Gregoire indicated previously she would sign the bill if it passed, but she is safe now what with the efforts of Democrats in Olympia to prevent from coming to a full vote. She will not have to take a definitive stand, even though we see there are 300,000 more driver’s licenses in the state than drivers.

In the meantime, unemployment in Clark County and elsewhere remains in double digits and scarce benefits are growing scarcer.

Arguing against the bill, Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica says

“lawmakers are trying to fill the void left by the federal government’s lack of action on immigration law, but that restricting the licenses does not address immigration issues.”

Neither does turning a blind eye to the issue and embracing lawbreakers with full benefits and entitlements. That makes her next words even more ironic as she added, “This bill was a threat to road safety, would have driven up insurance premiums for everyone, and costs money that we can ill afford as a state.”

In an email sent out, Craig Keller organizer for Respect WA, a group working to curb Illegal Immigration in the state informs us,

“Currently Washington State and New Mexico are the only 2 of 50 states whose licensing application does not screen for U.S. lawful presence. Consequently, this lack of compliance with the Federal “Real ID Act” will prevent Washington State residents from boarding commercial airplanes after May 11, 2011 using a Washington State drivers license alone. Due to Wash. St. DoL’s failure to verify U.S. lawful presence upon issuance, many states now refuse to accept the Washington State Drivers License as proof of U.S. lawful presence of those moving from Washington State.”

Governor Gregoire has the option to follow suit like former Oregon Governor Kulongowski and issue an Executive Order to the Department of Licensing to begin verifying U.S. lawful presence.

I have little faith she would do so.

We citizens can also advance Respect Washington’s I-1122 to the November 2011 ballot by collecting of 241,153 signatures by July 8th.

Contact information for Clark County, if you would like to help out is STEPHANIE TURLAY
CHAIRWOMAN, VANCOUVER, WA email: Stephanie@RespectWashington.us

I urge all that can to get in contact with Stephanie, or Craig through the website above and let’s show Democrats in Olympia that we want to see an end to their acceptance and embracing of lawbreakers in Washington State.

We are expected to respect the law, why allow open violators of the law more respect than law-abiding citizens?