U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan GrishamCONGRESSIONAL News:
ALBUQUERQUE ― Thursday, Congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham released her MVD Reform policy, a comprehensive plan to renovate and simplify the MVD experience and driver’s license issuing process.
Under the current system, many New Mexicans are wrongfully denied identification documents vital to employment, housing, and education.
“New Mexico needs a governor who will advocate for our families and make government more user-friendly, not make life harder and force people to jump through hoops,” Lujan Grisham said. “As governor, I will stop the state from unlawfully denying driver’s licenses and ID cards to New Mexicans and work to make the application process easier for everyone. On day one, I will begin reforming MVD operations to help ensure we are not holding New Mexicans back with burdensome and unlawful regulations.”
The plan’s intent is to make federal-compliant forms of identification accessible to those who have been denied them in the past and to educate the public on the two-tiered system and the rights they have with a Driver Authorization Card or second-tier ID card. In addition, the plan will ensure that those with non-REAL ID forms of identification are not disadvantaged or subject to discrimination.
As governor, Lujan Grisham will immediately take action to reverse these actions. She will:
- Bring MVD staff and private contractors who issue licenses into compliance with the law.
- Make MVD customer friendly. She will improve the culture at MVD, stressing customer service over bureaucratic overreach, and promote rather than discourage use of Driver Authorization Cards so people can simply obtain their needed ID cards and get on with their lives.
- Educate the public so people understand that non-REAL ID cards are valid forms of identification issued by the state that are good for almost all purposes.
- Implement a renewal-by-mail system so that individuals who have complied with the statute can renew valid ID cards and authorizations by mail as they have in the past.
- Require the Secretary of the Taxation and Revenue Department, which oversees MVD, to add additional valid documents that ID-seekers can use to obtain identification, such as:
- Proof of residency or receipt of services in a New Mexico homeless shelter; or
- Qualifying medical records
Further, Lujan Grisham will work with the legislature to:
-
Change the name of the Driver’s Authorization Card to a “New Mexico Driver’s License”. This simple name change will help clarify both its purpose and validity.
-
Require an easy-to-renew system for non-REAL ID driver’s licenses and ID cards.
-
Include confidentiality and privacy protections for all driver’s license and ID holders.
-
Pass clear, nondiscrimination laws that prohibit businesses, employers, and others from rejecting someone who has a New Mexico ID instead of a license that complies with federal Real ID.
Lujan Grisham will use these improvements to break down the barriers created by the current administration that are preventing New Mexicans from obtaining the identification cards they need — and that the legislature said they are entitled to obtain — to drive, work, rent a home, thrive, and succeed.
Please find the full plan here.
