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NASHVILLE - Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the Senate speaker, said Thursday he favors a more flexible approach than a House bill that requires the written portion of all driver's license exams be in English with no exceptions for legal immigrants and visitors such as Volkswagen and Nissan executives.
"I like the bill we passed in the Senate a couple of years ago that said driver's license tests should be given in English unless you prove there's a reason it shouldn't be," Lt. Gov. Ramsey, R-Blountville, told reporters.
"So if you're here with a foreign embassy, you're here on a visa and you need to get that, that's one thing. But if you're here illegally, then you shouldn't be able to do that. So the bill we (Senate) passed a year or so ago and (that) never passed the House, I think, is the way to go - not just a blanket statement."
Last year's Senate bill stated that someone who presents documentation demonstrating their presence in the U.S. is authorized by the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security can take a driver's license exam in German, Korean, Japanese or Spanish.
Rep. Eric Watson, R-Cleveland, a Bradley County Sheriff's Department lieutenant, is sponsoring the bill that stops the written portion of driver's license exams be provided only in English. The driving portion of the test is already conducted entirely in English.
The issue is one of safety, Rep. Watson argued.
"This bill is going to put thousands of tax dollars back into our budget," he said earlier in the week. "Most of all, it's going to make it safer for drivers on Tennessee roadways. I've heard everything that this is an immigration bill or a business bill, it has nothing to do with this. This is a safety bill."
The measure, House Bill 262, is opposed by Volkswagen, which is building a plant in Chattanooga, and lawmakers said Nissan opposes it as well. Japan's Consultate-General in Nashville has gone on record opposing it as well, according to state officials.
Earlier this week, members of the House Public Safety Subcommittee of the Transportation Committee approved the Watson bill on a 4-1-1 vote.