Baker not pleased with license bill

Gov. Charlie Baker clearly isn’t happy his veto of a bill which would license those without legal status to drive was overturned by the Legislature without any provision to differentiate those with lawful presence from those without.

“I will say that many of the bills that have been passed in other states are not laws in which you get a driver’s license.

“You get a driver’s privilege card. That was never really on the table here in Massachusetts,” Baker said Monday.

The bill in question, The Work and Family Mobility Act, which will become law now that both legislative bodies have cleared the governor’s veto by twothirds majorities, will see those without legal status licensed to drive beginning on July 1 of next year.

The governor’s comments came after his leadership meeting with state Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ronald Mariano Monday afternoon, when the three state leaders brief ly described their intentions over the remaining weeks of legislative action.

The leaders of the two legislative bodies had schedule a ceremonial signing of the license bill for just after the meeting, where they would celebrate its passage despite the governor refusing to sign the legislation.

Baker has cited several concerns, not least of which was the fact the Registry of Motor Vehicles was not prepared to verify documents issued by foreign countries and town clerks are not equipped to deal with voter registration disparities between license holders of differing legal status.

“We had plenty of ideas about how to make life easier for the Secretary of State and the clerks, all of which were rejected,” he said Monday.

Also passed last week was a provision which would allow mail in voting permanently and let people register to vote as early as 10 days before an election.