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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina s congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Myorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

House Committee to Hear Bill to Fix Driver's License Program

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Wednesday, March 23, 2016   

DENVER - The Colorado House's State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee will hear a new bill today that hopes to clear the way for immigrants to obtain a driver's license and state ID.

SB 251 was passed three years ago, but services are only available at three DMV locations in the state.

Esmeralda Dominguez, an activist with the I Drive Colorado coalition, says making the law work is a public safety issue.

"We want to make sure that anybody that is behind the wheel, anybody that is driving a car," she says. "Knows the rules of the road, is insured, has motor insurance, their cars are registered."

Critics of the program maintain state-issued identification could be seen as a form of amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

Dominguez notes SB 251 licenses clearly state they are not proof of citizenship.

Last year, the GOP-led Joint Budget Committee effectively shut down the program by blocking spending authority on $166,000 in fees paid by immigrants for licenses.

Up until 1999, Colorado allowed any resident regardless of status to apply for and get a driver's license.

Dominguez says the new bill would enable SB 251 to work as it was originally intended by removing financial and administrative barriers.

The Colorado Fiscal Institute estimates some 145,000 Coloradans are eligible for licenses.

Dominguez says because DMV offices can only process 31 appointments a day, most people are still struggling to clear the first hurdle.

"It becomes like trying to buy a lottery ticket and win the lottery," says Dominguez. "We have the basic need, and we know that the demand for having a driver's license is so high that the DMV does not have the capacity to meet this demand."

Dominguez says being able to drive is critical in a state as big as Colorado, and having a legal license allows residents to take driver's education courses, get insurance and provide valid identification to law enforcement.


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