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Sen. Ketron Renews Call To Tighten Up On Driver’s LicensesJesse Hughes
State Republican Press Secretary
January 25, 2006
www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_79250.aspNASHVILLE—Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) renewed his call Wednesday for the state to tighten up on the requirements for issuing state driver’s licenses. His call for action followed the announcement that six people have been indicted in the joint federal-state investigation Operation Crooked Highway. Three others have previously been prosecuted in the case which involves the illegal purchase of driver’s licenses.
He once again urged Gov. Bredesen to get on board and support tougher laws to try and prevent yet another embarrassing repeat of Department of Safety employees illegally selling driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.
Sen. Ketron has Senate Bill 1050 ( http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/ ) in the Senate Transportation Committee from last year’s action and the bill can quickly move forward to help start solving the problem. That bill requires an applicant for a driver’s license to provide a valid Social Security number or INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) documentation. (INS has been renamed the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services or BCIS, but many still refer to it as INS.)
Under current law an applicant who does not have or was never issued a Social Security Number may still receive a license if such applicant completes an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, affirming that the applicant has never been issued a Social Security Number.
Sen. Ketron has been working since 2002 to tighten up on the state’s lax licensing laws and has encouraged the governor’s administration to make some changes to the law. After a 2003 change in the law, he urged the governor in a Sep. 12, 2003, letter to remove his opposition to then Senate Bill 1188 from the 103rd General Assembly. That bill is almost identical to his current bill. But the administration dug in then on the issue and the problem continues today.
In that letter to the governor, Sen. Ketron wrote: "The purpose of this bill is to require a legal presence in the US and the state of Tennessee by requiring a social security card or INS documents. The events of 9/11 have added increased urgency to the enactment of this legislation. We cannot afford to make Tennessee a magnet for those who would obtain official identification in an effort to harm United States citizens."
Sen. Jim Tracy co-sponsors SB 1050 in the Senate with Sen. Ketron. Sponsors of House Bill 2132, the companion bill, include Reps. Donna Rowland, Glen Casada, Harry Brooks, Paul Stanley, Debra Maggart, Phillip Johnson, Curry Todd, William Baird, Jerome Cochran, Susan Lynn, and Beth Harwell.
Sen. Ketron represents the 13th Senatorial District which includes all of Lincoln, Marshall, and Maury counties, as well as part of Rutherford County.