CALIFORNIA (Sacramento Bee) August 19, 2004 - A driver's license bill for illegal immigrants, perhaps the most emotional issue facing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as California's legislative session winds down, will likely land on his desk within days.

Schwarzenegger has indicated he'll veto it unless the license "looks different" from other licenses for security reasons - an amendment supporters of the bill call a discriminatory "marker" that's unacceptable.

With no apparent middle ground in view, the postmortem for SB 1160 by state Sen. Gil Cedillo is already taking shape. Latino legislators say Schwarzenegger promised them he would sign a license bill; the governor maintains the bill does not address his security concerns.

The Republican governor also maintains he never assured Cedillo - as the Los Angeles Democrat insists - that licenses for illegal immigrants would look the same as licenses for legal residents.

"I think when he says those things, I have no idea why he says them, because it does not reflect the conversation that I had with him," Schwarzenegger told reporters Monday while touring a state prison in Amador County.

Cedillo said during their initial meeting last fall, the governor asked for his help in repealing a license bill that Gov. Gray Davis signed and Schwarzenegger vowed to repeal during the recall campaign.

In return, Cedillo said the governor assured him he would sign a new bill and "we agreed that we would not have a marker on the license."

"He looks at me and says, 'I know, I'm an immigrant, so I'm not for that,' " Cedillo said, recounting the meeting in Schwarzenegger's Santa Monica office.

"I asked him if we needed to put this in writing, and he says, 'No, I give you my word.' "

Other members of the Legislature's 24-member Democratic Latino Caucus - including Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez - said Schwarzenegger personally assured them he would sign a license bill.

"The governor, without question, led me to believe that we were going to have a driver's license bill this year," said Núñez, D-Los Angeles.

The speaker said the governor did not inject the proposal for "a marker" into the negotiations until this spring, after consulting with Ron Iden, his director of homeland security.

Cedillo said that during a May 27 meeting in the Capitol with the governor - attended by Cedillo, Núñez and Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, chairman of the Latino Caucus - the governor unexpectedly made the demand.

Cedillo and Núñez on Tuesday informed Richard Costigan, Schwarzenegger's legislative secretary, that the Democrats who control the Legislature would soon send the governor a license bill.

In an interview, Núñez said the bill will not meet Schwarzenegger's requirement that the license look different.

"The mark on the license isn't just a blow to (Democratic) leadership, it's also disrespectful to those of us who are immigrants and represent people of color in this state," Núñez said.

Schwarzenegger denies "a driver's license that looks different" is a "marker" or discriminatory.

"It's nothing to do with the mark or the Jewish star or any of that," the governor said during his prison tour. "It has only to do with one thing.

"That is to make it different so it's acceptable to the California people and it is also just for driving legally and not for anything else."

Schwarzenegger said he has assured Cedillo and other lawmakers that "I want every undocumented immigrant to have a driver's license."

"(But) the FBI and our homeland security office see it as a problem to give them driver's licenses that look the same as ours," he said. "They can open up bank accounts, go through airports, and do business to get other documents."

Cedillo said Schwarzenegger's concerns are groundless. The senator notes illegal immigrants can already board commercial flights and open bank accounts by using foreign identification documents, such as "matriculas" issued by Mexican consular offices.

Schwarzenegger has said a provision in SB 1160 that would allow applicants to use matriculas is unacceptable because "many of (the cards) are falsified."

In response, Cedillo said he recently told administration officials he would delete that provision.

"We told them, 'Use the standard that you use to get your licenses' " Cedillo said. "The core documents - birth certificates and the other whole range of documents people use to become citizens."

Even if a deal is struck that would salvage SB 1160, the measure faces a new hurdle.

Republican activists earlier this month renewed their effort for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit illegal immigrants from receiving licenses and other public benefits in California.

The Save Our License initiative needs 598,105 verified signatures to quality for the state ballot.

Mike Spence, president of the conservative California Republican Assembly, said the group has the financial commitments to qualify the initiative for a special election next year or the March 2006 ballot.

Last year, after the Legislature repealed the Davis license bill, the CRA dropped plans to put an initiative on this November's ballot that would have allowed voters to do the same.

Spence said illegal immigrants should not be given licenses because that would reward illegal behavior.

"We can't trust the Legislature on this issue," Spence said. "So we have to take matters into our hands."

SB 1160 has passed the state Senate Transportation Committee and is on hold in the appropriations committee. It must pass both the Senate and the Assembly by Aug. 31 and be signed by the governor no later than Sept. 30 to become law.

The issue presents Schwarzenegger with a political dilemma. He risks upsetting either Republicans or powerful Latino legislators like state Sen. Richard Alarcón, D-Sun Valley, who say he gave them his word.