The
same bill that managed to make it through the full Illinois Senate during the
fall veto session came before an Illinois House committee – where it got the
desired recommendation.
SEEING
THAT QUINN has said in the past that he wants to be able to put his signature
on this bill. He wants to be able to treat the immigrant population with a
certain amount of respect – and probably figures that the kind of people who
view this issue as somehow subversive are the kinds who were never going to
vote for him anyway.
So
what is stopping him?
This
measure still needs the backing of the full Illinois House of Representatives.
And that might not be a sure thing – particularly on account of the time
factors at work here.
For
Tuesday is the final day of the current General Assembly. All the officials who
managed to win election in November will be sworn-in on Wednesday.
IF
ANYTHING IS to happen, it will have to come about Tuesday. There’s no time for
any political do-overs. It would have to come now.
And
even state Rep. Edward Acevedo, D-Chicago, went so far as to admit to the
Chicago newspapers that any vote on this issue will be close. This isn’t a
shoo-in to pass.
Because
there is so little time, the reality is that if it does not pass on Tuesday,
the session ends with no action on this issue.
Which
means that someone would have to reintroduce the issue as a brand-new bill that
would have to go through the entire legislative process all over again.
PERHAPS
IT COULD be said that the previous legislative activity is building momentum
and that it might be all the easier to just start over and get the bill worked
through the process during the spring of 2013.
And
maybe in the long run it doesn’t matter much if the bill is signed into law
some time in January or some time in July.
But
it would be incredibly frustrating for those people with a personal interest in
this issue to have to wait a little longer – after coming so close to working
their way through the legislative process this time around.
So
we’re going to have to wait and see what happens on Tuesday with regards to
driver’s licenses – even though I suspect many people are going to be more
attuned to whether or not the Legislature makes a last-ditch effort to try to
pass something impacting the shortfall we now have when it comes to funding
pension programs.
IN
FACT, I’M curious to see if some of the biggest ideological critics of driver’s
licenses for the non-citizens are going to suddenly become proponents of
pension funding reform – just so that attention will be diverted from the other
issue.
For
the record, I’m restating my support for this issue – because I like the idea
that it would encourage people now living in the shadows of our society to come
out into the open.
That
would provide so many benefits for all of us that I have a hard time accepting
the fact that anybody can’t comprehend that fact. But some do.
Although
most of those who oppose this issue do so because they see that allowing these
people to get a driver’s license is a form of recognition and respect that they’d
rather not have to give out.
EVEN
THOUGH THIS particular bill would create a special class of driver’s licenses
for these people that could not be used as identification in the way that the
bulk of us rely on a driver’s license or state ID card.
These
critics want for our state government to issue a level of disrespect that goes
along with their own ideological hang-ups.
Which
is why I’d like to think that a slim majority of our Illinois House of
Representatives will have the sense to disregard such nonsense. Although
counting on lawmakers to do the “proper” thing is always a long-shot – in and
of itself.
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