Driver's license 'flying eagle' would mark citizenship

State Rep. Dodie Horton proposed a bill to add an image of a flying eagle to driver’s licenses. (Photo by Cross Harris / LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau)

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.

“Any time I can brag about being a United States citizen, I love it,” said state Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, the author of House Bill 613.

Horton reflected on her status as a U.S. citizen when proposing her bill, requiring an eagle to be added to Louisiana drivers’ licenses and special identification cards as a mark of U.S. citizenship.

The bill advanced to the House floor on an 8-5 vote by the Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee, with the added comment by state Rep. Patricia Moore, D-Monroe, that it would soften difficulties in obtaining proof of citizenship papers under the SAVE America Act.

The eagle stamp would apply only to license renewals and not to current IDs unless constituents sought it out.

While Horton said this was the simplest piece of legislation she has ever attempted to pass, several Democratic representatives described the bill as useless and potentially harassing.  

“I think this is just a way for harassment, and we don’t recognize that,” said state Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, “We are better than this as Louisianans, and we shouldn’t have this.”

Jordan noted the bill would create an increased risk for people getting locked up for questionable status if they did not have the eagle-stamped, updated IDs.

State 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 examples of the consequences of labeling select groups of people.

Republicans argued it was an honor to display one’s citizenship, even in the case of citizenship obtained later.

State 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.”

State Rep. Raymond Cruz, R-Bossier City, reflected on his mother obtaining her U.S. citizenship after coming from Germany.

“She would have loved to have that eagle on her driver’s license,” Cruz said.

Horton said the bill is “pro-American.”