A group of Republican legislators is sponsoring a bill to invalidate out-of-state driver's licenses issued to undocumented immigrants and another bill that would change how temporary residents — including refugees and immigrants — get driver's licenses.
The bills come as the incoming Trump administration promises to carry out the largest deportation effort in U.S. history starting this month.
The first bill, sponsored by Sen. Bill Gannon, would make clear that New Hampshire does not recognize licenses issued in other states to undocumented immigrants. Several nearby states — including Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont — allow undocumented drivers to get a license without a Social Security number. These are called “drive-only” or standard licenses but aren’t usually accepted as a form of REAL ID.
In New Hampshire, undocumented residents can't get a driver’s license. Legislation to change that has been introduced multiple times in the House of Representatives, but has been tabled for lack of support.
If the new bill is passed as introduced, anybody driving in New Hampshire with a “drive-only” license will be guilty of a class B misdemeanor. The proposal would also require the Division of Motor Vehicles to keep an updated list on their website of out-of-state class licenses that are invalid in New Hampshire.
Gannon proposed a similar bill last year which passed the Senate but failed in the House. The new bill is virtually identical to the earlier one, except that it doesn’t specify the cost of implementation. Last year’s bill was estimated to cost the Department of Safety about $120,000 in its first year.
Gannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.
The text of the second bill hasn’t been made public yet, but is titled “relative to the issuance of drivers' licenses for aliens temporarily residing in New Hampshire,” although it is unclear how the legislation would change the number of driver’s licenses.
The legislation is sponsored by Rep. Thomas Walsh and 10 other Republican legislators — including House Speaker Sherman Packard. Neither Walsh nor Packard could be reached immediately for comment.
These two bills are among roughly one dozen immigration-related bills introduced by Republican legislators so far for 2025, including one that would withhold money from schools if they house immigrants in an emergency and two that would require businesses to use the E-Verify system from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The legislative session starts on January 8.
