BILL NUMBER: AB 2113INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hueso FEBRUARY 23, 2012 An act relating to vehicles. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2113, as introduced, Hueso. Vehicles: driver's licenses: enhanced driver's license. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles, upon proper application, to issue driver's licenses and identification cards. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would authorize the Department of Motor Vehicles to enter into a memorandum of understanding with one or more federal agencies for the purposes of facilitating the crossing of the border and improving economic development between this state and Mexico and that would permit the department to issue an enhanced driver's license or identification card for the purposes of crossing the border between this state and Mexico. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Every year, there are over 45 million personal vehicle passengers and 15 million pedestrians crossing into the state from Mexico. (b) Border crossers have an economic impact on the state, accounting annually for four billion five hundred thousand dollars ($4,000,500,000) in economic benefits and 67,000 jobs. (c) Border wait times during peak hours average 120 minutes on weekdays and even longer on weekends. (d) More than 8 million trips are lost due to congestion each year in the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest port of entry in the world. (e) In the San Diego region alone, this translates into a revenue loss of nearly one billion three hundred thousand dollars ($1,000,300,000), 3 million potential working hours, 35,000 jobs, and forty-two million dollars ($42,000,000) in wages. (f) It is estimated that border wait times will significantly increase in the future and an additional 15 minutes in border wait times will affect productivity in the binational border region by an additional one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) in costs and a loss of 134,000 jobs. (g) Since border wait times impede international travel, trade, and commerce, the Legislature must address this problem to protect California's jobs and economy. (h) After the 9/11 attacks, the federal government enacted the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI; Public Law 110-53), to facilitate entry for United States citizens and legitimate foreign visitors, while strengthening United States border security, by requiring United States and Canadian travelers to present a passport or other documents that denote identity and citizenship when entering the United States. The documentation requirements of the WHTI went into effect in 2007 for air travel into the United States and in 2009 for land and sea travel. (i) In addition to a passport and other documents, the federal government approved, for cross-border travel, the use of an enhanced driver's license (EDL), which is a standard state-issued driver's license that has been enhanced in process, technology, and security to denote identity and citizenship for purposes of entering the United States at the land and sea ports of entry. An EDL contains radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, which allows information contained in a wireless device or tag to be read from a distance, and eliminates the need to key in travelers, translating into a 60 percent faster processing than manual queries. (j) Another advantage of an EDL is that it can be used in "Ready Lanes," which were created by the United States Customs and Border Protection and are used as primary vehicle lanes dedicated to travelers who possess RFID-enabled travel documents. (k) The use of an EDL as an RFID-enabled travel document is already in place in the states of Washington, New York, Michigan, and Vermont. (l) The use of EDL's in the state will open the way for the United States Customs and Border Protection to convert more vehicle lanes into ready lanes, which will decrease border wait times by an average of 30 minutes and thus provide a significant, long-term economic benefit to the state, while strengthening border security. SEC. 2. The Legislature hereby declares its intent to enact subsequent legislation that would authorize the Department of Motor Vehicles to enter into a memorandum of understanding with one or more federal agencies for the purposes of facilitating the crossing of the border and improving economic development between this state and Mexico and would permit the department to issue an enhanced driver's license or identification card for the purposes of crossing the border between this state and Mexico.