ASSEMBLY OKS LICENSE REPEAL GOVERNOR SUGGESTS FUTURE BILL ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT DRIVERS.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

SACRAMENTO - The California Assembly voted Monday to repeal a recently passed law allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses, setting the stage for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to fulfill a key campaign pledge just two weeks after taking office.

Facing widespread public opposition and a threatened March ballot initiative to kill the law, the Assembly voted 64-9 to overturn what it passed only three months ago. The Senate took similar action Nov. 24 with a 33-0 vote.

The law - which had been set to go into effect Jan. 1 - would have let an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants apply for driver's licenses with taxpayer identification numbers or other documents instead of Social Security numbers and birth certificates. It was passed in September and signed by former Gov. Gray Davis, who twice vetoed similar bills.

Schwarzenegger, expected to quickly sign the repeal bill, has promised to support a measure with adequate security safeguards and background checks. In the recall campaign, he promised to get the law repealed within his first 100 days.

In a written statement, Schwarzenegger called the repeal ``a great display of bipartisan cooperation'' that he hopes will be repeated with other parts of his agenda.

State lawmakers, fearing that voters would overturn the law unless they took action, took just 21 hours last week to vote for the repeal in both the Senate and a key Assembly committee, sending it to the Assembly for Monday's final legislative action.

Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, one of the original co- authors of the law, went with the majority in voting to repeal it Monday. He said he was supporting the bill's principal author, Sen. Gilbert Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, who decided to back the repeal in the hopes that a new bill with added security measures can be introduced in January.

``We've gone through a very divisive period in California,'' Koretz said. ``Were this on the ballot, it would be that much more divisive.''

Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Granada Hills, voted against the law earlier this year and voted for repealing it Monday because of concerns about security and the appropriateness of granting licenses to illegal immigrants.

``The legislation was potentially a serious breach of public safety and security for our state and for our nation,'' Richman said. ``I think it's very important that we maintain our system of legal immigration and protect our borders from illegal immigration.''

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, supported the law originally and said he still does, but on Monday decided to defer to Cedillo and Schwarzenegger in the hopes that a new bill will be written.

``We have to deal with the fact there are 2 million (undocumented immigrants) driving here on our streets,'' Levine said. ``I would rather have them go by some process where they can get some training.''

The law's supporters, including immigrant-rights groups, labor unions, churches and Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, argued that the decade-long ban on licenses hasn't slowed illegal immigration but has made highways more dangerous as hundreds of thousands of immigrants avoid state driving tests and buying auto insurance.

Opponents said that without reforms including background checks, terrorists could more easily obtain driver's licenses.