Measures would alter or repeal driving cards

Just over three-in-four holders of driving privilege cards are insured, according to a new legislative audit of the card that allows undocumented immigrants to drive legally.

The audit found 2,641 of a sample of 3,641 driving privilege card holders were insured. The insurance rate of 76 percent compares to 82 percent for driver's license holders and marks a one percent increase since last year for both groups.

There are currently 34,799 current valid driving privilege cards, according to the audit.

Critics have said the cards are being used as identification cards for purposes such as buying beer. And lawmakers this session will consider whether to alter or repeal the cards.

Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, said based on an initial review of the audit that the driving privilege card seems to be a good program. He's drafting a bill to tighten up the cards so that they can't be used for age verification, and to revoke the cards of uninsured drivers.

"It looks like, number one, we're issuing a lot of driving privilege cards and for the most part they're getting insured," Daw said. "That's good."

In addition to Daw's bill, Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, is sponsoring HB26, which would prevent notary publics from using the cards for identification. That bill was approved Friday in a 9-4 vote in the House Judiciary Committee. Donnelson is also sponsoring HB239 to repeal the cards altogether. Sen. Bill Hickman, R-St. George, has also said that a repeal of the cards will be in a comprehensive illegal immigration bill he's drafting.

The cards were created in 2005 as an alternative to allowing undocumented immigrants to hold drivers' licenses after an audit at the time found fraud in the system, including multiple licenses matched to a single access. Since then, the audit says the law that created the cards and tightened proof of residency requirements "appears to be having a significant impact."

"We ran a similar test on the current DP cards to determine whether multiple cards were being issued to a single address," the audit says. "Current data show no instances where large numbers of cards were issued to the same address."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com