More than 150 advocates cheered a packed room inside the Statehouse in Trenton on Thursday as a bill that would give undocumented immigrants in New Jerey the ability to get a drivers license cleared another hurdle.

The Democratic proposal — which proponents say would make the roads safer for everyone and detractors argue would give privileges to people who have broken the law — cleared a state Senate committee along party lines Thursday.

The full, Democratic-controlled Assembly is already scheduled to vote on the measure Monday. If the Democratic-controlled state Senate also passes it, the bill will head to Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who says he’ll sign it.

Supporters of the bill (A4743) outnumbered opponents at Thursday’s Senate Transportation Committee, which approved it in a 5-2 vote.

“Why would you come here today if you didn’t want to do the right thing?” asked state Sen. Patrick Diegnan, D-Middlesex, the committee’s chairman, who voted in favor of the bill after about three hours of testimony.

“I know this may be difficult to some people,” said state Sen. Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, one of the bill’s prime sponsors. “(But) what it does do is it makes a great investment in human capital. The safest driver is a trained, tested and insured driver.”

But the opposition was fierce.

“Drivers licenses for illegal immigrants is a personal affront to the millions of New Jersey families who follow the law, play by the rules and still struggle to get by because their representatives espouse idealism over ideas and promote progressivism over practically,” said Doug Steinhardt, the chairman of the New Jersey Republican Party.

The bill would allow for two categories of licenses and IDs: one compliant with the Real ID Act that allows the holder to board domestic flights, and another for driving that would be issued to immigrants regardless of citizenship status and certain senior citizens and other who lack documents. It would not apply to commercial drivers licenses.

The Real ID would indicate the person’s citizenship status, and the drivers license will not. Anyone obtaining a driver’s license would have to provide documents to pass the Motor Vehicle Commission’s six-point system to prove identification.

Opponents have questioned how a law Murphy approved last year that automatically registers people to vote if they apply for a driver’s license or non-driver ID card would apply to undocumented immigrants seeking licenses.

The head of the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission, Sue Fulton, said there are thousands of people in the state who aren’t permanent citizens but are able to apply for a drivers license. She said there’s already a process in place to make sure non-residents don’t get added to voter rolls.

There’s “not even one documented case of a non-citizen … who voted or attempted to vote in the state of New Jersey,” she said

There are more than 466,000 undocumented immigrants of driving age in New Jersey, according to a 2018 study by left-leaning think tank NJ Policy Perspective.

New Jersey would join at least a dozen other states that grant licenses to undocumented immigrants.

The other states with such programs are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.

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