The issue before us today arouses a great deal of passion on both sides. That is understandable. The fact that this nation is home to 12 million undocumented immigrants is of great consequence. It is of consequence to those who are focused primarily on the integrity of our immigration laws. It is of consequence to those who are focused primarily on national security. And it is a fact of consequence to those who are focused primarily on the health and safety and wellbeing of the 12 million boys and girls and men and women who are living and working here. Regardless of which perspective you take, I don't begrudge you the feeling that something about our current situation is not right. People of good faith certainly can and should cast around for solutions.

Senate Bill 1080, however, is not a solution. There is nothing about this bill that makes Oregon safer, that makes Oregon fairer, or that makes Oregon stronger.

Here are the facts:
1. Immigrants do not come to this country to get a driver's license, and they will not leave because they are ineligible for one. Undocumented workers will continue to drive, but they will not be tested to ensure they know the rules of the road. In a study of more than 40,000 fatal car accidents, AAA found that unlicensed drivers were 4.9 times more likely than a licensed driver to be involved in a fatal traffic crash. When New Mexico began testing and licensing undocumented immigrants in 2003, it saw its auto injury rate drop by more than 20% in just three years.

2. Fact: Unlicensed drivers are less unlikely to obtain auto insurance, thereby increasing premiums for everyone else. A 2007 report from the state of Illinois showed that auto insurance policy costs due to unlicensed and uninsured immigrant drivers is $117 per year. New York's State Department of Insurance estimated that uninsured motorist insurance premiums would drop by 34% if undocumented immigrants in that state were allowed to obtain drivers' licenses.

3. Fact: Unlicensed drivers are more likely to flee from minor traffic violations and traffic collisions. You are more likely to be the victim of a hit-and-run accident in the state of California than anywhere else in the country. Not surprisingly, experts consider California's high rate of unlicensed drivers, the result of the legal presence requirements there, to be primarily responsible.

4. Fact: Legal residents will be seriously impacted by this bill. It can take weeks or months to track down a birth certificate, if it exists. And for low-income Oregonians, seniors, and people with disabilities, this process will be even more arduous. The bill assures us that in the meantime, applicants may be eligible for a temporary driver permit, although qualification appears to be left to the discretion of the department. Applicants may also be eligible for the services of a department ombudsman, but we're supplying no additional funding for that post.

So to our House Transportation Committee, I say bring us a bill that improves safety of our roads and highways. This bill is not it.

To the Governor, I say bring us a bill that deals squarely with identity theft and security. This bill is not it.

And to our members of Congress, I say work again to bring the American public a bill that deals comprehensively with immigration. Because this approach is certainly not it.

I want to end by trying to put this issue in more human terms. Consider the situation of a young woman from East Multnomah County: She immigrates here from Mexico with her parents when she is one year old, joining cousins and uncles and grandparents in Oregon. She grows up in this country, attending American schools where she is taught English, where she embeds herself in clubs and community, where she is constantly encouraged by adults who told her that with hard work, she would succeed.

And then she hits her teenage years, and she suffers the pain of realizing that due to her parents' actions, she cannot legally obtain a job. That she cannot attend a state university. That, with the passage of Senate Bill 1080, she will no longer be able to legally drive.

What goes through this young woman's mind? Anger at her parents for bringing her here? Quite possibly some. Sadness at her situation? Probably. And very likely also frustration, resignation, and cynicism about the country in which she has been raised. We desperately need this young woman's creativity, energy, and intelligence to help build this state and this country - as we need the creativity, energy, and intelligence of thousands of other young people in her situation. Instead, we're going to lose her into the shadows. At best, she slips quietly into a low-wage workplace where she keeps her head down and profits high. And at worst, she becomes a subject for our criminal justice system.

This body does not have the power to resolve the many complexities involved in this young woman's situation. But I implore us not, in this short session, to make her situation worse. Please vote no on SB 1080.