The following was received from the office of Del. Pat McDonough:
Annapolis is filled with love! Of course, as I have said before, love in all of the wrong places. Illegal aliens are receiving their usual share of strong support for drivers’ licenses from the same old cast of characters.
The Judiciary Committee Chairman, Joe Vallario, and his allies, at the last minute, cleverly cobbled together a phony driver’s license bill that promoted amnesty for the 212,000 illegals in our state who presently possess Maryland drivers’ licenses. The original bill that entered Vallario’s committee was clean and did not have amnesty language. The bill was de-constructed and transformed into the present version which passed the House of Delegates by a vote of 77 to 60.
More than 60 members of the House, including myself, who were co-sponsors of the original, honest piece of legislation, removed themselves from the corrupted bill. It was an historic Friday evening on March 27th witnessing all of these legislators standing up on the floor and publically announcing their desire to remove their names. The two primary sponsors, one a Republican and one a Democrat, became so disgusted with the process that they also removed their names.
The Senate passed a clean and honest version that complied with the federal REAL ID requirements and contained no amnesty language. This bill passed by a 36 to 11 count.
Now, both pieces of legislation must come before a conference committee consisting of members from both the House and the Senate that will determine its fate. Mike Miller, the President of the Maryland Senate, is strongly opposed to the amnesty version. The Governor has announced that he support the two-tiered legislation that contains amnesty language.
There are two possible political outcomes. A clean, honest and effective bill barring drivers’ licenses for illegal aliens could emerge and pass. Frankly, if the Governor signs this type of bill, he will proclaim victory and characterize himself as a leader fighting against the burdens created by illegal aliens. This would put quite a campaign feather in his cap.
The other option would be an amnesty bill which the Governor, expressing his true love for illegal aliens, would sign into law. Politically, that decision would be costly to him.
As you can see, things are very fluid. Anything would happen in the final days of the Maryland General Asylum. The session ends on Monday, April 13th. Should time permit, I will provide you with an update and, perhaps, a list of the conference committee members’ names.
I worked very hard on the floor of the House, speaking on several occasions to my fellow legislators about the serious problems created by driver’s licenses for illegal aliens. My bill last year, The Voter Protection Act, would have prevented illegals from receiving voter information and from registering to vote with their driver’s license application. The amnesty bill, which I oppose, will continue the illegal aliens voter fraud problem. As you know, I have been helping to lead the fight in Maryland against benefits for illegals and the taxes they impose on our system. I will continue those efforts in the future.
To express your position, you may reach President of the Senate, Mike Miller at Thomas.V.Mike.Miller@Senate.state.md.us or Governor O’Malley at Governor@gov.state.md.us.
Del. Pat McDonough
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