Residents of the Commonwealth urge the Virginia Senate and House of Transportation Committee Members to support legislation that will provide access to driver’s licenses to hard-working immigrants and help them support their families, improve public safety by increasing trust between immigrant communities and law enforcement and improve driver safety on Virginia roads.

Dear members of the Virginia House and Senate Transportation Committee              

We, the undersigned, urge the passage of legislation that will allow all Virginia residents access to Virginia state driver’s licenses regardless of their immigration status. We urge you to move Virginia into the ranks of the other states that allow inclusive licensing, states which have seen improved safety, lower insurance costs, increased revenue and other community benefits as a result.

Licenses best protect driver privacy. Broad access to non-REAL ID compliant licenses ensures that Virginia does not create a separate database of undocumented driver’s that can be targeted for non-state, driving or road safety purposes. We currently live in a world where databases and our online and digital data are vulnerable, including the recent proliferation of digitized facial recognition software, massive data sharing by the state, data brokers that buy and resell personal data unrestricted in a lucrative multimillion dollar market, new data aggregation tools that allow a buyer to identify with precision a data subject, data breaches of databases of some of the biggest companies, GPS target location capabilities, and more recently ICE using DMV data to target immigrants and noncriminal record drivers. Allowing all Virginia drivers to access the current state license system will ensure that sensitive and private information of vulnerable immigrant populations are secure and only used to promote DMV operations.

Virginia already has a two-tier license system since being required to enact REAL ID. Virginia has recently moved to fully implement REAL ID. DMV estimates that 60% of its licensed drivers will not participate in REAL ID and DMV will continue to offer the current “non-compliant” state drivers licenses. This two tier system offers a new opportunity to allow undocumented drivers to participate in the current standard DMV license procedures and DMV non- REAL ID database without creating a new program, thereby promoting technology efficiencies and cost savings, reducing the opportunities for discrimination and profiling, and providing a platform to enact strong privacy protections for all Virginians.

Currently, two bills have been introduced in each house of the legislature, HB1211 and SB643. As members of the Senate and House Transportation Committees begin the review process, we urge each member to consider the following:

EQUITY AND SECURITY

A driver’s license ensures more Virginians have to the necessities of life and allows people to:

. Have mobility and flexibility to carryout daily activities that currently licensed drivers take for granted.

. Live within our communities without fear of arrest, deportation, vehicle impoundment or breaking the law by driving without a license.

. Access to school, children’s activities, health care, groceries, places of worship and local businesses.

· Avoid the fines and fees from being unlicensed, which disproportionality affect people of color and low income.

SAFETY

A driver’s license for all drivers promotes public safety:

· DMV estimates that 240,000 undocumented drivers will become licensed, tested, trained and insured.

· These newly licensed 240,000 drivers will now have their driving records and compliance with insurance requirements maintained by DMV and accessible to local law enforcement for investigations.

· California, Oregon and Utah each saw a double digit decrease in hit and run accidents following implementation of driver’s licenses for all.

· In California, 4000 hit and run accidents prevented, $3.5 million out of pocket expenses saved, $17 million costs transferred from the victim’s own insurance to the at fault drivers’ insurance.

· Fewer injuries and lost time from work as a result of the testing, training and licensing of all drivers on Virginia roads.

PROSPERITY

Mobility leads to greater economic activity, increased sales and gasoline tax contributions and better family financial stability. Virginia government would also benefit:

· In Colorado, $17.20 per year in savings in insurance premiums, for all with a total estimated savings of $57 million in premium costs. In Massachusetts, policy holders there were estimated to save $20 each year when all eligible undocumented drivers got insurance. Virginia has 5.9 million licensed drivers (DMV, 2012).

· $46 million to Connecticut insurers as a result of new business, resulting in greater revenues and economic activity in the state.

· $7.6 million generated through VA license fees, paid by newly licensed drivers. (DMV’s current $32 fee x 240,000)

PRIVACY

· A commingled database with all non-compliant driver’s license holders reduces the risk for the data of immigrant drivers being misused or misappropriated.

·  Strong protections for all Virginians against data brokers, hackers and misuse of data.

·  Reduced opportunities for discrimination and profiling. All will be treated the same, with the same card, and the same rights and obligations.

Moreover, our communities and economy are stronger when more residents can participate in everyday life without breaking the rules of the road by driving without a license. Because a traffic stop or accident would no longer carry the risk of detention or deportation, immigrants with driver’s licenses would also fear law enforcement less, increasing cooperation between immigrant communities and law enforcement. That in turn would facilitate effective community policing efforts and help lower crime rates.

We urge you to support the economic development effects and safer roads for all Virginians by voting this legislation out of the Transportation Committee so that it can be heard and approved by the full House and Senate.

Respectfully,