Effort Underway To Expand Colorado's Immigrant Driver's License Program
DENVER (CBS4) - An effort is underway in Denver to expand the state's controversial immigrant driver's license program.
Colorado issued about 48,000 of the special non-citizen licenses in the first year of the program's existence, but activists say tens of thousands more people can't even get an appointment.
A state legislator plans to introduce legislation to expand the program to every DMV office in the state. Right now it's limited to three offices due to funding which has been capped at $512,000.
Miguel Oaxaca, spokesman for the group Together Colorado, said he knows people who have spent "the whole week sitting in front of the computer for hours trying to (set up) their appointment."
Together Colorado is one of the groups pushing for the expansion with the help of State Rep. Jonathan Singer.
"The real idea is to open this up to every DMV office," said Singer, a Democrat who represents Longmont.
"If you're an immigrant and you come to Colorado, you should pay your own way and you should know the rules of the road, and the bottom line is having only two offices or three offices open across the state isn't doing that," he said.
CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd reports Republican leaders in the Colorado legislature have made it clear they don't want to appropriate money for the program, which generated about $2.5 million of revenue in its first year.
The licenses for non-citizens here illegally run about $80, which is about $50 more than a typical license.
"This is going to be big. Next year we are here to fight for this program to be a better program," said Oaxaca.
