{"id":115066,"date":"2015-01-26T20:33:04","date_gmt":"2015-01-27T03:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gop-blocks-license-program\/"},"modified":"2015-01-26T20:33:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T03:33:04","slug":"gop-blocks-license-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/gop-blocks-license-program\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP blocks license program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Immigrant
Immigrant Rosalva Mireles is photographed by Jesus Sanchez of Spanish language newspaper El Commercio after she received a driver\u2019s license Aug. 1 at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Denver. Republicans on Friday defunded the bulk of the driver\u2019s license program.<\/span>Brennan Linsley\/Associated Press file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 Republicans on Friday defunded a large portion of a state program intended to provide driver\u2019s licenses to undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n

The three Republican members of the state\u2019s budget committee rejected a spending authorization to fund the new program, causing a tie vote that killed the motion.<\/p>\n

The move highlighted Republicans flexing muscles after taking control of the Senate this year. The GOP opposed providing the driver\u2019s licenses.<\/p>\n

Even though the program did not require additional funds because it is self-sustaining \u2013 paid for by fees collected from applicants \u2013 Republicans said they did not believe further spending authorization was necessary. Any money not spent will sit in a fund without the authorization.<\/p>\n

Four offices are likely to close, leaving only one office open. The Denver office likely will remain open, and offices in Grand Junction, Fort Collins, Aurora and Colorado Springs are likely to close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey used Washington, D.C.-style tactics to defund a public safety program that benefited immigrants and all of Colorado,\u201d Sen. Jessie Ulibarri, D-Westminster, said after the vote.<\/p>\n

Ulibarri sponsored the measure in 2013, when Democrats controlled both chambers of the Legislature. The bill was framed as a public safety measure, with sponsors saying drivers are more likely to flee the scene of an accident without a license or insurance.<\/p>\n

Rep. Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, said he believes the law received all the funding it needed as outlined by the original legislation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my understanding that this program is and will continue to be funded,\u201d Rankin said.<\/p>\n

Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, said the Joint Budget Committee had an obligation to authorize spending. He said he has supported funding for measures he didn\u2019t support simply because the bills became law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe budget to fund current law,\u201d said Steadman, who is a member of the JBC. \u201cThe program is on the books. It exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans voted Wednesday to defund the program. But a Democratic member of the committee was absent, so a reconsideration of the vote was requested. On Thursday, that member was absent again, so the reconsideration was delayed to Friday, when the authorization was killed.<\/p>\n

With one office, the state will be able to serve only about 15 people per day. It could take more than a year for some people to obtain a license.<\/p>\n

Undocumented immigrants already were forced to drive the four hours to Grand Junction to apply for a license.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat affects a lot of our communities,\u201d said Eddie Soto, of the Colorado Latino Forum. \u201cIt means our workers can\u2019t work in the fields, or in the hotels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also going to impact employers,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, you\u2019re going to have to drive to Denver, wait for a full day to get an appointment. That means a week\u2019s loss of one of their best employees.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

access to funds<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":115067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[94,13,904],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-115066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-immigration"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115066"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=115066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}