California lawmakers are holding back $55 million requested by the Newsom administration for a Department of Motor Vehicles data-sharing project, citing concerns that driver’s license information could be used to identify immigrants who lack federal authorization to live in the United States.
The funding, excluded from a budget agreement released by the Assembly and Senate, would have helped connect California to a national system used by states to check whether a person holds more than one driver’s license or state identification card. The DMV had planned to begin responding to other states’ requests for information on California drivers early next year.
At issue is the State-to-State system and its SPEX platform, operated by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a nonprofit organization made up of motor vehicle officials from across the country. The system is intended to help states detect duplicate licenses and identification cards.
Immigrant-rights advocates say the proposal could expose sensitive information about more than 1 million California license holders who are not federally authorized to live in the country. California has allowed residents to obtain driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status since 2014 under Assembly Bill 60.
Opponents are particularly concerned that the system records the last five digits of a driver’s Social Security number and uses a placeholder, such as “99999,” for people who do not have one. They argue that such markers could make it easier to identify drivers without Social Security numbers.
Advocates fear that if the information becomes available through the multi-state system, it could eventually reach U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol and be used in deportation efforts. DMV officials and the governor’s office have said the data-sharing plan is necessary to comply with the federal Real ID Act of 2005, which sets standards for state identification used at federal facilities, including airports.
In response to the Legislature’s budget move, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security urged people without federal authorization to live in the United States to leave the country.
The state Senate’s budget proposal, released Tuesday, did not include funding for the DMV’s interstate verification program. Lawmakers face a June 15 constitutional deadline to pass a budget, but negotiations with Gov. Gavin Newsom can continue through June 30.
Leaving the $55 million out of the budget does not necessarily kill the DMV plan. The funding could still be restored during negotiations between legislative leaders and the governor’s office, or revived later through a budget trailer bill or another spending measure.
Still, advocates say the decision makes it less likely that the DMV will receive the money by July 1, the date the department had set for beginning data sharing. Jessie Schmitte, state policy manager for Alliance San Diego, a human rights community organization that has been monitoring the proposal, said the issue drew broad concern once more groups learned about it.
Nearly 200 organizations signed a coalition letter opposing the DMV’s data-sharing plan. The proposal also prompted protests earlier this month at a DMV office in San Francisco.
“Many organizations were unaware these conversations were happening until reporting brought the issue to light,” Schmitte said. “If they were serious about protecting Californians and strengthening privacy, they would not be avoiding these conversations.”
The DMV also faces a legal hurdle beyond funding. California law generally bars the department from sharing Social Security numbers collected during the licensing process for most purposes. That means additional legislation would be needed before the state could provide that information to the national nonprofit, a requirement the DMV noted in its own budget request.
The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators says its database is designed to prevent people from holding licenses or identification cards in multiple states at the same time. The association has said the database cannot be searched in bulk and requires specific information, such as a name and date of birth.
Privacy and immigrant-rights advocates remain worried that local officials in other states could use information from the database to flag suspected undocumented immigrants and pass that information to federal authorities.
A spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said discussions over DMV funding are continuing. Staff for two other lawmakers did not respond to requests for information about the negotiations.
Newsom’s office referred questions to the Department of Finance. Department spokesperson HD Palmer said discussions “have been underway and continue.”
Andrea Guerrero, founding executive director of Alliance San Diego, said it appears unlikely that the concerns can be resolved before the DMV’s target date.
“It is hard to imagine what kinds of changes could be made when we are standing at the end of the plank,” Guerrero said.
Ed Hasbrouck, a civil liberties advocate with The Identity Project, attended the San Francisco protests and took part in an April call with the governor’s office and the DMV about the data-sharing plan. He said he was encouraged that lawmakers delayed the funding, but warned that once California driver data enters a multi-state database, safeguards will be difficult or impossible to enforce.
Hasbrouck said the state ultimately must choose between maintaining the privacy assurances tied to AB 60 licenses and complying with the Real ID Act in the way the DMV has proposed.
“It has been put off, but it is a decision the state is going to have to make,” he said. “It cannot simply avoid it.”
Original source: CalMatters
