A bill that would allow limited driving privileges for undocumented immigrants in North Carolina recently passed the state House committee 22-to-11.

But it still faces a split Republican membership, and opposition from the governor.

“It’s a very controversial bill,” said District 50 Rep. Graig Meyer, a Democrat. “It may be one of the most controversial bills that comes up this session that hasn’t gotten a veto from the governor. There are many members who are anti-immigrant in their overall sentiments. And they are passionately against this bill.”

That’s District 50 Rep. Graig Meyer, a Democrat. He supports House Bill 328, which provides a restricted drivers permit for applicants “not lawfully present in the United States.”

“They would have a way to get a driving permit, so that we would at least know who is driving on our roads; that they have a license and have passed and understand all of our driving laws; and that they’re eligible to get insurance,” said Meyer. “It puts all of us at risk to have people on the roads who don’t know the rules and aren’t insured.”

The process would include fingerprinting, background checks and passing a state driving test.

Meyer addressed the presumed difficulty in getting undocumented people to reveal themselves to local governments that way.

“Those people who do register for a driving permit will have to, obviously, give their information over to be held by the state of North Carolina, just as all licensed drivers have their information in the license database,” said Meyer. “But, the information they give cannot and will not be given to law enforcement for the purpose of deportation or other immigration hearings, unless that person has been convicted of a crime.”

Meyer added that there’s one more significant incentive to consider.

“The people who are here, who are undocumented – don’t have access to drivers licenses – know that every day that they get out on the road without a license, they are risking deportation for getting a ticket,” said Meyer.

The Highway Safety and Citizens protection Act of 2015, as it’s called, also increases penalties for the manufacture of fake IDs, in an effort to reduce identity theft.

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