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News Articles, Op-eds, and Letters

Legislature shouldn't interfere with driver card referendum
StatesmanJournal.com
Letter

Apparently Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek along with Reps. Jessica Vega Pederson and Vic Gilliam want to undermine the will of more than 71,000 Oregon voters in 2013 who had the opportunity to read SB 833 and then sign a Referendum 301 signature sheet that puts the issue of whether or not those illegally present in the state should be allowed driver cards before voters in November 2014.

These legislators want to pass HB 4054 that rewrites the ballot title of the Referendum 301 even before the Oregon Supreme Court gets a chance to make a decision on the input given by opponents and...

Lawmakers should leave driver-card ballot title alone: Editorial
OregonLive.com
Op-ed

 ....Some lawmakers want this outcome so badly, however, that they may be willing to do the wrong thing.

A group that includes House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, may try to rewrite the referendum’s ballot title, a breathtakingly cynical move that would taint the very law they’re trying to preserve. ...

....Ballots will contain supplemental information, including a summary of the measure and the effects of “yes” and “no” votes, but the ballot title is the first thing most will read – and in some cases the last.

Opponents of the law are right to be furious, and...

Proposed driver-card ballot title buries the truth: Editorial
OregonLive.com
Op-ed

Six of the House Rules Committee’s nine members voted Tuesday to hijack the normal process for writing ballot titles. The move is a barely disguised marketing effort for a law that would grant driving privileges to people in this country illegally. It won’t work, and driver-card supporters who value the Legislature’s credibility should oppose the change during an expected House vote Wednesday...

Opponents quickly gathered enough signatures to place the law on the November ballot...

The certified ballot title, which has been appealed to the Supreme Court, is as follows: “...

Letter: 'Driver card' ballot title should be left alone
StatesmanJournal.com
Letter

Gov. Kitzhaber and Reps. Tina Kotek, D-Portland, Jessica Vega Pederson, D-Portland, and Vic Gilliam, R-Silverton, don’t seem to trust voters.

More than 70,000 Oregonians signed a Referendum 301 signature sheet that would place the issue of granting state-issued ID (in the form of a driver privilege card) to those who can’t prove legal presence in the country before voters in November 2014. Now some legislators want to pass legislation to rewrite the ballot title.

Oregonians should contact their legislators and tell them to reject tampering (call it obfuscation) of the...

Driver card referendum: Oregon Legislature could rewrite ballot title
OregonLive.com
News article

SALEM -- The Oregon Legislature could rewrite the title of a contentious measure on the November ballot asking voters whether to grant driver cards to residents who can’t prove they’re in the state legally...

...The 2013 Legislature approved granting four-year driver cards. Opponents, hoping voters will overturn the law, gathered enough signatures to suspend it and put it on the ballot.

Now, supporters of driver cards fear the measure’s title -- “Provides Oregon resident ‘driver card’ without requiring proof of legal presence in the United States” -- doesn’t reflect their...

Driver cards, employment and legal residency
OregonLive.com
Letter

Regarding the commentary "Encouraging economic innovation" (Jan. 26):

Laura J. Mazel argues in favor of granting driver cards to immigrants on the basis that they "power innovation," are "Nobel laureates," are "business owners" and are "some of our brightest minds."...                                                                                                                                                      

The driver card issue is not about those who enter our country legally but rather about those 12 million people who have crossed our borders illegally, mocking...

Driver cards, employment and legal residency
OregonLive.com
Letter

Some are denigrating the referendum on Senate Bill 833 as a minor patch on a bigger problem, illegal immigration...

In Oregon, bills have been introduced in the Legislatures to implement E-Verify here, and Oregonians for Immigration Reform has worked to promote them.

Meantime, citizens are fortunate to have the opportunity to vote down SB833, a harmful bill that would encourage and accommodate illegal immigration.

Elizabeth Van Staaveren
McMinnville
 

With driver cards, illegal immigrants will take Oregon jobs: Guest opinion
OregonLive.com
Letter

On Jan. 1, a number of laws took effect that the Oregon Legislature passed in 2013. Thanks to the signatures of 58,000-plus Oregonians, however, the law granting driver cards to illegal immigrants was suspended and referred to the November 2014 ballot....

The nexus between illegal-immigrant driver cards and unemployed Oregonians? Simple: Were not illegal immigrants taking Oregon jobs, many of those Oregonians may not have been unemployed in the first place. And if driver cards take effect, even more Oregonians are likely to be....

The Oregonian has styled driver cards a...

Oregon's unlicensed, uninsured driving rates almost unchanged since 2008 law tightening identification requirements
OregonLive.com
News article

The rate of Oregon drivers who are unlicensed and uninsured remains largely unchanged since a 2008 law tightened identification requirements to obtain driver's licenses, a state report shows.

The Oregon Department of Transportation report comes months before voters in November will decide whether to grant driving privileges to Oregonians who can't prove their legal presence. The Legislature last year approved offering four-year driver cards, but opponents successfully referred the issue to voters....


It found that the rate of unlicensed, uninsured drivers declined...

Licenses for illegal immigrants is perilous step
The Register Guard
Op-ed

The guest viewpoint by Phil Carrasco in the Dec. 7 Register Guard, “Driver’s licenses for immigrants is human rights issue,” carries a seriously misleading title and continues to mislead readers throughout.

The “immigrants” discussed are illegal immigrants. There is a significant difference between immigrants and illegal immigrants. To ignore the difference is to ignore our immigration laws and those who abide by them. To ignore the difference is to disrespect our national boundaries and dissolve our national sovereignty.

It is not a “human right” to immigrate to the United...

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