March 28, 2018

AJC gets it wrong: Inaccurate report on important senate amendment *UPDATE – Galloway corrected the copy, but as usual for the AJC, there was no notation of the error or the correction

Posted by D.A. King at 9:25 am - Email the author   Print This Post Print This Post  

Drivers license issued to all non-citizens in Georgia, legal status or illegal status. Photo: DDS

 

The AJC, in it’s “Politically Georgia” email report (and on Jim Galloway’s blog and Twitter page) gets it wrong on an amendment offered by Senator Josh McKoon (Amendment #6) to HB 673. The amendment said DDS could not issue drivers licenses and ID cards to illegal aliens that are REAL ID Act compliant, which is currently the only tier of credential issued.

It allowed for a second tier of license/ID Card for illegal aliens as per the REAL ID Act that would not be acceptable for federal ID such as boarding an airliner or entering a military base. But it could still be used for driving privileges.

AJC today:

“State Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, a candidate for secretary of state, tried the same tactic, but didn’t get the same kind of pushback.

Prabhu reports that McKoon introduced and then withdrew an amendment that would have made it harder for teens to get a court waiver to avoid having to notify their parents about an abortion.

And he unsuccessfully sought an amendment during the debate of the distracted driving bill that would keep illegal immigrants from getting a driver’s license.

The last sentence is not accurate and will serve to further confuse lawmakers who should already understand this issue. *UPDATE: Here (below) is the copy that was inserted as a correction, but no note was made of the error or the correction. And it is still not accurate.

State Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, a candidate for secretary of state, tried the same tactic, but didn’t get the same kind of pushback.

Prabhu reports that McKoon introduced and then withdrew an amendment that would have made it harder for teens to get a court waiver to avoid having to notify their parents about an abortion.

And he unsuccessfully sought an amendment during the debate of the distracted driving bill that would have required driver’s licenses given to illegal immigrants with a protected status — i.e. DACA kids — to be distinguishable from licenses for other residents.