Rep. Linda Harper-Brown (R-Irving) explored that topic at the Sept. 25 meeting of the Sunset Advisory Commission. Specifically, she asked the drivers license division chief for the Texas Department of Public Safety, Judy Brown, what types of documents would be accepted as proof of residency for obtaining a Texas driver’s license when newly issued federal REAL ID Act requirements are met.

The use of Mexican ID cards has been quite controversial in recent years, with lawmakers repeatedly voting down amendments to allow their use. Illegal aliens are not supposed to be allowed to get Texas drivers licenses (Transportation Code, section 521.0305(c)), but allowing the use of Mexican ID cards could make it more likely they will slip through the cracks.

LSR called the Department of Public Safety Sept. 26 seeking clarification. Though we have had repeated contact with the agency’s press office, we have not yet received answers to our questions by our press deadline Oct. 2.

 Under a DPS rule, a document from a foreign consular office may be presented as proof of residency for obtaining a Texas driver’s license.

Under state statute, a matricula consular document is not listed as acceptable proof, and the applicant must have a driver’s license from Mexico (with which Texas has a reciprocity agreement) similar to a Texas Class C license.

A matricula consular (also known as a consular registration card, sometimes abbreviated MCAS for Matricula Consular de Alta Seguridad) is a Mexican-issued identification card containing photo and a serial identification number, showing that the bearer is a Mexican national living outside Mexico. Several South American and Central American nations issue such cards, as does Poland. The U.S. issues similar cards for its residents living abroad.

The Vienna Convention of 1963, signed by 160 nations, including the United States, authorized use of consular cards for identification. Mexico adopted the practice in 2001. In 2004, Congress failed to pass a bill preventing financial institutions from accepting consular cards for transactions or setting up accounts.

“If the REAL ID Act comes in and we end up adopting it,” Harper-Brown said at the advisory commission hearing, “will the primary, secondary and supporting documents — would those items change in our driver’s license requirements?”

“Yes ma’am,” Chief Brown replied. Brown did not specify exactly how those requirements would change, though LSR has requested clarification from DPS.

Under the federal REAL ID Act, which is set to go into effect in Texas during the next few years, state driver’s licenses would have to meet certain minimum requirements before they could be used as identification for federally regulated activities such as boarding a commercial airliner, visiting various federal facilities or entering a nuclear power plant.

Unofficially, driver’s licenses are used as proof of identification for a variety of purposes such as applying for a bank account, writing a check at a store, or verifying eligibility to buy alcohol.

Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to ponder the possibility of a state law requiring formal identification of some kind in order to vote.

Advocates of voter identification say the tighter standards would crack down on the number of non-residents voting in elections. In the March Republican primary non-binding referendum, around 92 percent of voters favored requiring voter ID. Democratic spokesmen have called the proposed requirement a “partisan voter repression agenda” designed mainly to discourage those of Mexican descent from voting Democratic. Attempts at passing a voter ID bill have failed in the Texas Legislature in several sessions.

Harper-Brown said she has received several complaints from the North Texas area regarding the kinds of documents that would be required for obtaining a driver’s license. “Do we have a residency requirement to receive a driver’s license in Texas?” she asked.

DPS’ Brown replied that her department, which does have a residency requirement by rule, intends to bring up legislation in 2009 to change what is required.

“Currently, today,” she said, “the requirement is that you have to obtain a driver’s license within 30 days of moving to the state of Texas [in order to continue driving].”

Brown added that legislation was passed that directed the DPS to accept matricula consular documents, but she did not have any specifics on when such legislation passed when Harper-Brown pursued the question further.

LSR will continue to monitor this situation and will update our readers when additional information becomes available.

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