Latest news with #SF33
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Noncitizen ID bill passes House, fails concurrence vote
CHEYENNE — A bill to include text denoting that someone is not a U.S. citizen on state identification cards has passed the Wyoming House of Representatives, but changes made in that chamber were rejected by the Senate. On Thursday, the House voted on third and final reading to pass Senate File 33, 'Noncitizen driver's license and ID card-revisions.' During committee of the whole debate on Tuesday, the House adopted an amendment to the bill that would change language from 'not a U.S.' to 'not a U.S. citizen,' as recommended by the House Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee. Currently, Wyoming state IDs and driver's licenses for noncitizens say 'NR,' which stands for 'nonresident.' Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray has said that is a 'tenuous' description that could be unclear to election judges, who have to determine voter eligibility at the polls. The Wyoming Department of Transportation has testified in committee about the amount of space on the card, saying there wasn't room for an entire line of text reading 'not a U.S. citizen' on the state-issued ID card. After passing on third reading in the House Thursday morning, SF 33 failed a concurrence vote in the Senate, meaning it will be sent to a joint conference committee to reconcile differences. Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, told his fellow senators that adding the word 'citizen' to the line of text on the identification cards would 'ignore the request of (WYDOT) to keep it short.' Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne (2025) Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne 'I have polled my committee, and we all agree we should honor the wishes of the department, so that down the line when we want to add another thing, we will have some real estate there,' Pappas said. Neither body has allocated any funding for the change. On Wednesday, Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, proposed a second-reading amendment to allocate $67,000 to WYDOT for the cost of printing. 'In order to enact the changes that we are requesting the department to do, I thought allocating some fiscal resources would be a smart move,' Sherwood said, continuing that lawmakers often discuss tight budgets at WYDOT. Rep. Mike Yin, D-Laramie, added that WYDOT is in 'maintenance mode for all of our roads.' 'If it is $67,000 to pay for this bill, that means $67,000 that isn't going to take care of roads in your neck of the woods,' Yin said. However, Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, said he did not support any additional funding for WYDOT after the Legislature appropriated $69 million in general fund money for the agency. Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette (2025) Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette 'There is a new influx of funds, so these minor expenditures that come along should be well taken care of,' Bear said. Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, pushed back, saying that he supported the appropriation. 'Unfunded mandates' are exactly why WYDOT is stretched so thin, he said. 'What we've been doing for the past 14 years is doing these unfunded mandates, placing another burden on them and saying, 'Well, you guys have money. Go figure it out'.' Sherwood's amendment failed.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill revising non-citizen driver's licenses, state IDs passes House committee
CHEYENNE – Members of a Wyoming House committee successfully added the word 'citizen' after 'Not a U.S.' to print on the back of driver's licenses and state ID cards issued to non U.S. citizens during their discussion of a Senate bill Thursday afternoon. Senate File 33, 'Noncitizen driver's license and ID card-revisions,' requires creating a new driver's license and state ID for those who are in the country legally, but are not a U.S. citizen. The bill is making steady progress through the general session, having passed through the Senate and crossed over to the House of Representatives. It barely passed the House's Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee in a 5-4 vote, and has to pass three more readings on the House floor before it goes back to the Senate. Reps. Bob Nicholas, R-Cheyenne; Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs; Lloyd Larsen, R-Lander; and Ivan Posey, D-Fort Washakie, voted against the bill. SF 33 is one of several election-related bills Secretary of State Chuck Gray is pushing to tighten up Wyoming elections and promote election integrity. Currently, Wyoming state IDs and driver's licenses for non-citizens say 'NR,' which stands for 'non-resident.' Gray said this is 'pretty tenuous' and could still be unclear to election judges whether the person registering is a qualified voter. 'We want it to be crystal clear that someone is not a United States citizen,' Gray said Tuesday, when the bill was first heard by the committee. 'And that's what this bill does.' There are an estimated 6,000 permanent Wyoming residents who are not U.S. citizens, according to expert testimony. It would cost the Wyoming Department of Transportation an estimated $67,000 to print the words 'Not a U.S. citizen' on the back of these licenses and state IDs, according to the Legislative Service Office. Gray advocated to change the color of non-citizen driver's licenses and state IDs to another color, such as green. However, WYDOT representatives said this is a complex process that would cost around $239,000. Rep. Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, made a motion to change the color of these cards, but it quickly died for lack of a second. Civics 307 blogger Gail Symons testified against the bill, for the simple reason that it's unneeded, she said. She told committee members a small percentage of voters registered at the polls in last year's election. Gail Symons Gail Symons 'In 2024, in the primary election, we had 6,584 people in the entire state who did the same-day registration and voted. That's 2.9%,' Symons said. 'In the general (election), we had 57, which is 0.02%.' Equality State Policy Center Policy Director Marissa Carpio shared testimony from a woman who was recently naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Carpio told lawmakers the woman felt that this bill targeted lawful immigrants. Marissa Carpio 'She felt that this bill was targeting her, and people like her, who spent years into the process trying to become a citizen and engage in civic duty,' Carpio said. 'And it's not fair that it's targeting only lawful immigrants in our state.'
