DE ASIS v. Department of Motor Vehicles

During the 2001-2002 Regular Session of the Legislature, both the Assembly and the Senate passed Assembly Bill No. 60 to allow aliens who do not have a Social Security number to obtain a California driver’s license or a California identification card if they have petitioned, or are the beneficiaries of a petition, for lawful immigration status or an extension of legal presence in the United States. Assembly Bill No. 60 was sent to enrollment on September 14, 2001, and, plaintiff alleges, the bill went to the Governor on October 2, 2001. Soon thereafter, the Chief Clerk of the Assembly retrieved Assembly Bill No. 60 from the Governor’s Office and returned it to the Legislature, where it was withdrawn from enrollment and placed in the Legislature’s inactive file on motion of the bill’s author. The following year, the Legislature returned Assembly Bill No. 60 to enrollment and sent it to the Governor, after which he vetoed the legislation.

Prior to the Governor’s veto, plaintiff Mary Grace O. De Asis, whose application for a California identification card was denied because she did not have a Social Security number, filed a petition for writ of mandate and complaint for…