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AJC.com > Legislature > Georgia Beat > Archives > 2005 > March > 24 > Entry
Senate votes to remove motorist fingerprint requirement
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia’s fingerprint requirement for motorists soon may be repealed. The Senate voted 40-10 Thursday in favor of House Bill 577, a bill that would end the mandate requiring Georgians to be fingerprinted to get a driver’s license.
Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock), who carried the measure, said that there is no evidence that the fingerprint requirement has “done anything to put someone in jail … and there’s nothing to show it’s prevented any fraud.”
The bill also would require the state to destroy all existing fingerprint records.
The measure must go back to the House because it passed the Senate with several amendments. One specifies the documentation necessary for a person to receive a temporary driver’s license, permit or special identification card. The documentation includes a pending or approved application for asylum, refugee status, temporary protected status or other federal documentation of legal presence in the United States.
Sen. Sam Zamarripa (D-Atlanta) said that while the amendement’s language clearly targets illegal immigrants, it does not change existing state law. “I’m okay with it,” Zamarripa said.
Another change would set the effective date of the bill to 2006. A third amendment stipulates that fingerprint images electronically stored on existing driver’s licenses will be destroyed when the motorist applies for a renewal.
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