BATON ROUGE — A House bill that would require the Office of Motor Vehicles to add an image of a flying eagle to a driver's license as a symbol of verified U.S. citizenship easily advanced to the Senate on a 71-29 vote Monday.
House Bill 613, authored by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, would add the eagle to Louisiana driver's licenses and special identification cards as a mark of U.S. citizenship. The symbol would apply only to license renewals and not to current IDs unless constituents sought it out.
The bill advanced to the House floor on an 8-5 vote by the Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee. Rep. Patricia Moore, D-Monroe, added during committee that the marking could help ease difficulties in obtaining proof of citizenship under the SAVE America Act.
While Horton called it the simplest piece of legislation she has ever attempted to pass, several Democratic representatives argued the bill was unnecessary and potentially harmful.
"I think this is just a way for harassment, and we don't recognize that," said Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge. "We are better than this as Louisianans, and we shouldn't have this."
Jordan said the bill would create increased risk for people being detained over questions about their status if they did not have the eagle-stamped, updated IDs.
Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, said the bill's intent was "to take rights from people or limit people." She referenced Nazi Germany, South African apartheid, and the Soviet Union as historical examples of the consequences of labeling select groups of people.
Republican members argued it was an honor to display one's citizenship. Rep. Jeffrey Wiley, R-Livingston, said he rarely comes to the floor for debate but was in full support of the bill.
"We want this; we need this," Wiley said. "I would be proud to cast a vote for this bill."
Rep. Raymond Cruz, R-Bossier City, reflected on his mother obtaining U.S. citizenship after immigrating from Germany.
"She would have loved to have that eagle on her driver's license," Cruz said.
Horton called the bill "pro-American."
