1500 Rally at the State Capitol to Restore Driver’s License Access to ALL Oregonians

1500 Rally at the Oregon State Capitol to Restore Driver’s License Access to ALL Oregonians

Members of the immigrant, faith, labor and business communities call for passage of Senate Bill 845

Salem, Ore.. (April 18, 2011)-- Today, 1500 members of the immigrant, faith, labor and business communities rallied at the Oregon State Capitol. The rally took place preceding the Senate holding a legislative hearing on Senate Bill 845--Oregon's bipartisan Driver’s License Access Restoration Act.
Senate Bill 845 is a bipartisan solution to restore access to driver's licenses to all Oregonians, regardless of their citizenship status. Passage of this crucial piece of legislation corrects the error that the State Legislature made in 2008 and is important for Oregon's public safety and economic prosperity.

The Senate Transportation Committee hearing, which took place in Hearing Room B, was standing room only with all of the overflow rooms filled. Barbara Ghio, a local immigration attorney, testified on behalf of CAUSA. She was joined by members of the Latino, immigrant, faith, labor and business communities who testified during the two hour hearing. (Read Barbara Ghio's testimony on SB 845 here)

Supporters of Senate Bill 845 sent a loud and clear message to the members of the Senate Transportation Committee that their communities value public safety and want ALL Oregonians to have access to Driver’s Licenses.

CAUSA is urging people to continue to contact members of the Senate Transportation Committee and urge them to vote "Yes" on Senate Bill 845 when it come up for a vote. For details on how to contact legislators, please link here.

Read more »

OR Driver's License Access Bill Gets a Hearing

OR Driver's License Access Bill Gets a Hearing
April 18, 2011

Chris Thomas, Public News Service -OR
Audio

SALEM, Ore. - Oregon's immigrant community is driving home its point – that everyone should be allowed to drive, no matter what their immigration status. They'll rally this afternoon, just before a Senate committee hears testimony on a bill to restore driver's license access to non-citizens. It would change an Oregon law that's been in place since 2008.

Jose Gonzales plans to testify on behalf of Senate Bill 845. As a real-estate agent in Salem and a Latino Business Alliance member, he says the driver's license restriction has sent a chill through the Latino community, prompting some to think differently about putting down roots in Oregon.

"'This community might not be stable for myself, or my family.' And these are people that are documented, the people that have driver's licenses, but they're hearing, they're feeling, that this is not a future, that this place is not the best place to invest."

Gonzales says, in his business, instability translates into fewer home sales, and he has talked with merchants who also are concerned about it.

"We don't simply wait for the phone to ring; we're out there. And it's something we deal with every day. And it's at different levels - I'm talking about first-time buyers, investors, business owners - and even on the corporate level. We deal with people that have never even thought this would have affected them. It's an issue that really has gone the whole spectrum."

The bill has received bipartisan support from some lawmakers, who believe it's a way to ensure that all drivers on Oregon roads are registered and have insurance. Its critics say since licenses are used as identification, granting them to non-citizens creates security problems.

The rally is at 4:00 p.m. today on the State Capitol steps; the hearing is at 6:00 p.m. in the Senate Business, Transportation and Economic Development Committee.

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/19523-1

Read more »