In Albany homestretch, GOP leader seeks to halt driver's license bill

ALBANY — With the 2019 session of the State Legislature in the homestretch, the new state Republican chairman came to the State Capitol to urge lawmakers not to OK driver’s licenses for people in the country illegally.

Nick Langworthy said Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers who support the proposal are out of touch with everyday New Yorkers who are “outraged by this.”

His opposition comes as supporters of the driver’s license legislation have been racking up endorsements from major special interests in Albany, including leading healthcare unions, insurance companies and the largest business lobby. The legislative session is scheduled to end June 19 and the issue depends on the Democrat-led State Senate.

“This is a topic that people are talking about and they’re outraged by it,” said Langworthy, an Erie County resident who launched a successful bid to take the reins of the state Republican Party from Ed Cox last month, a move reportedly supported by President Donald Trump.

Langworthy said support for the driver’s license proposal shows “blatant disregard for taxpayers” and “blatant disregard for the federal rule of law.”

He contended Cuomo has “made it a political priority” not because he thinks it is “good policy” but “to further his own political ambitions on the national left.”

“The only way to confront fearmongering is with facts and the facts are that this proposal — which would put New York in line with 12 other states, including the liberal bastion of Utah — will make our roads safer and help ensure that those behind the wheel are properly licensed and pay their fair share for licenses and insurance,” Cuomo aide Jason Conwall replied in an email. “Right now those costs are being shouldered by other New Yorkers, which include many of these officials' very own constituents.”

While Langworthy is trying to block the legislation, a raft of high-profile Albany players have come out for it. On Monday, 1199/SEIU, the powerful healthcare workers’ union said the bill would “allow undocumented residents to come out of the shadows and become full participants in the state’s economy by obtaining the driver's licenses needed to travel to and from work.”

Previously, the New York State Business Council and some insurance trade groups also announced support.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) has said his chamber will approve the license bill before the legislative session ends. Its fate is uncertain in the Democrat-led Senate, where some are concerned about its impact in swing-district elections on Long Island and elsewhere. As of Monday, 24 of the 40 Democrats in the Senate had signed on as co-sponsors of the bill — none of them from Nassau or Suffolk counties.