Secretary of State Brian Kemp, county officials and now state legislators are pushing to relax a key part of Georgia’s immigration law, complaining it is too burdensome for businesspeople and government agencies.
At issue is a part of the law that requires people seeking public benefits – including professional licenses, grants and loans — to present “secure and verifiable” forms of identification, such as a driver’s license or passport. The law is aimed at preventing illegal immigrants from obtaining public benefits to which they are not entitled.
Kemp said that identification requirement is bogging down the process his office uses to issue licenses to nurses, cosmetologists and many other professionals across the state. County officials have also complained the law is creating red tape and causing delays.
Kemp and the Association County Commissioners of Georgia have been urging state lawmakers to amend the law during the legislative session set to begin next month.
State Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, confirmed Tuesday she is seeking a fix. Buckner has filed legislation to tweak the law so that people who have presented identification proving U.S. citizenship would not have to do so again when reapplying for public benefits. State lawmakers sought to make a similar change last year, but the effort stalled in the House.
“During this time when jobs are so important to people and licenses are required for jobs, we don’t need to do anything to make it more difficult for our working citizens of Georgia,” Buckner said.
State Rep. Rick Jasperse, R-Jasper, confirmed this week he is also working on legislation to tweak the identification requirement for license renewals, though he was not prepared to discuss specifics.
“It slows down government and also small business,” he said. “We would like to get by that.”
A spokesman for Gov. Nathan Deal, who signed the immigration bill into law last year, said the governor will talk about his legislative agenda next month.
State Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, who crafted the immigration legislation, did not respond to requests for comment this week. But he has previously said he suspects there will be broad support in the Legislature to relax the identification requirements for license renewals.
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