The state of Colorado’s new program to issue driver’s licenses to those in the country illegally is absolutely the right idea. It is in Colorado’s – and Coloradans’ – interest to ensure that drivers in the state have been properly tested and tracked, regardless of their immigration status; the two questions are not linked. However, the good intentions of the program that began Aug. 1 have been eclipsed by poor planning. The state grossly underestimated demand for the nonresident licenses, thereby underfunding the Department of Revenue’s ability to provide the identification. Add to that a contractor’s mistaken mailing of actual Colorado driver’s licenses to 524 nonresident drivers, and the program is a bona fide mess. It needs fixing – and quickly.
The law, which passed the Colorado Legislature in 2013, was based on what has turned out to be a dramatically low estimate of how many of Colorado’s 150,000 undocumented residents would seek the licenses. Consequently, just five of the state’s 56 driver’s license offices provide the service, meaning that immigrants are facing three-year wait times for licensing appointments; in the first month alone, 3,255 appointments were scheduled. Further, the state has yet to translate its driver’s manual into Spanish – a critical step for meeting the program’s goal of ensuring that all Colorado drivers are familiar with the state’s laws. Taken together, these hiccups have delivered what is hardly a workable solution to a public-safety problem for Colorado.
The fix is to commit more resources to the program. The initial funding level of $436,291 has proved insufficient to meet its demands. That money was intended for start-up costs only, with the program to become self-sustaining with a $30 additional fee levied on each applicant. Clearly, with three-year wait times and just five offices – four on the Front Range; one in Grand Junction – processing the requests, more money is needed to provide more appointments in more locations.
This is a relatively common occurrence in new policies. The process by which programs develop, are chosen and then implemented is imperfect. That is why there is an evaluation component built in: It allows for identifying and remedying problems. In this case, it will require an increased investment from the state in order to meet the driver’s license program’s goals. That the program has been fraught with problems does not make it a disaster in need of repeal, as Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez said in a debate moderated by The Denver Post on Tuesday. Fundamentally, the program is working – the demand just far exceeds the supply. Adjustments can and should be made to correct the imbalance. Colorado’s roads and its drivers will be safer for it.
