On May 2 and May 3 broadcasts, 630 KHOW-AM host Peter Boyles and his guest, Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman, made numerous misleading statements about House Bill 1313. Their criticisms of the measure, which would expand the list of acceptable forms of personal identification for obtaining a Colorado driver's license, generally understated its identification requirements.

Coffman dubiously suggested that HB 1313 would permit drivers to obtain licenses without proof of citizenship or lawful immigration status, would allow the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to accept driver's licenses from any other state as a valid stand-alone form of ID, and would strike from current law provisions that prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining licenses. Similarly, Boyles falsely claimed, and Coffman agreed, that HB 1313 would weaken existing rules by allowing, for example, a foreign passport without a legal name as a single valid form of identification for those seeking a driver's license.

As the Rocky Mountain News reported on April 13, “A bill to make it easier for lawful Colorado residents to get a driver's license won the Senate's final blessing Thursday, prompting charges by Republicans of a rollback on immigration reform. House Bill 1313 passed the Senate on a 20-15 party-line vote. It heads back to the House for consideration of a minor amendment.” The article provided additional background about the bill, noting, “The measure, by Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, seeks to clear up the red tape involved in getting a driver's license or Colorado ID by allowing residents to present a broad range of valid documents to prove age, name and lawful presence in the U.S.” The News further reported:

Last year, many lawmakers complained that the Department of Revenue kept changing the rules to get a license or ID.

A lawsuit was filed alleging that the changes were made without proper public input.

In response, a Denver district judge suspended the DMV's so-called two-document rule. He said it created hardships because residents without IDs or licenses could not get basic services, including bank accounts and housing.

A February 25 News editorial noted that since the rule was suspended, the DMV “has issued licenses under a tentative set of emergency guidelines.”

Throughout the May 2 and May 3 broadcasts, Boyles and Coffman suggested that the motive behind HB 1313 is to stall immigration reform, with Coffman saying on May 2 that he thinks the legislature is “trying to blur the line ... between who's in this country legally ... and who is not.”

However, as Colorado Media Matters noted, the language of HB 1313 specifies that the Department of Revenue, which oversees the Division of Motor Vehicles, must adopt rules consistent with those established by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for verifying an applicant's lawful residence in the United States:

The department shall promulgate rules establishing the requirements to prove that a license applicant is lawfully present in the United States. Such rules shall conform to standards established by the United States Department of Homeland Security for proving lawful presence.

Also during the May 2 broadcast, Boyles asked, "[U]nder 1313, if I present an unverifiable foreign passport, that can be used [to obtain a driver's license]. Is that correct?" Coffman replied, “Oh, that's correct. And I believe you can even use a birth certificate from another country.” Coffman added, “I mean, it doesn't have to have a photo.”

However, HB 1313 does not specifically list a birth certificate from another country as an acceptable document for obtaining a driver's license. Furthermore, according to the bill, in order to obtain a driver's license, an applicant who presents “a foreign passport bearing a photograph” must also provide an “appropriate visa or other immigration documents as established by the department by rule indicating the applicant's identity, age, and lawful presence in the United States.”

Later in the same broadcast, Coffman misleadingly claimed that the bill would allow the DMV to accept “driver's licenses from any state.” In fact, the bill states that the DMV only could accept as a stand-alone document “a driver's license or identification document, other than a military identification document, issued by the United States or any state that requires proof of lawful presence in the United States to obtain such driver's license or an identification document that is not expired.” [italics added] The bill further states that any driver's license issued by a state “that does not require proof of lawful presence in the United States to obtain such document” must be accompanied by one of several acceptable “secondary” forms of identification, such as a signed Social Security card or military ID card.

On May 3, in addition to reiterating the previous day's claims about the bill's list of the DMV's acceptable documents, Coffman added that a “tax form” would be considered an acceptable document according to HB 1313. He further suggested that because somebody “can download that ... and fill it out,” a “tax form” would be easy to forge. In fact, the bill states that an applicant may submit as a secondary document “an individual Colorado or federal tax return with an employee copy of a federal Internal Revenue Service form W-2 or 1099.” But the bill prohibits submission of a tax return in conjunction with certain primary documents, namely, an expired driver's license from another state or a driver's license from another state that does not verify citizenship status. Therefore, a tax return can be submitted only in conjunction with one of two primary documents: an ID “issued by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs or a federally-recognized tribe” or a birth certificate issued in the United States.

Also on May 3, Coffman further mischaracterized HB 1313 as undermining immigration law by stating that Section 3 of the bill “deletes” or “removes” language that proves an applicant's legal status:

BOYLES: -- the amendment language would allow a single unverifiable document, like a foreign passport, or a nonlegal name passport, to fulfill the requirement necessary to get a driver's license for the state of Colorado. Mike, what the hell are they thinking?

COFFMAN: You know, I think if you look at the legislation, it really -- what the legislation takes out from existing law, and, and I think in the, the last section, Section 3, it goes --

BOYLES: Yes.

COFFMAN: -- it, it deletes this language [reads]:

An applicant who submits a birth certificate or other documentary evidence issued by an entity other than a state or the United States shall also submit such proof as the department may require that the applicant is lawfully present in the United States.

BOYLES: Yeah. Isn't that --

COFFMAN: It removes that.

BOYLES: That's beauty, isn't it?

COFFMAN: It, it takes that out. And then the other provision that it takes out in Section 3, it takes out this language from current law [reads]:

An applicant who submits as proof of identity a driver's license or identification card issued by a state that issues driver's licenses or identification cards to persons who are not lawfully present in the United States shall also submit such proof as the department may require that the applicant is lawfully present in the United States.

COFFMAN: And it removes that language.

However, Coffman omitted mention that Section 2 of the bill addresses the two “delete[d]” sentences he cited from Section 3. Furthermore, the sentence immediately preceding the two deleted sentences was revised to read: “The department shall NOT issue an identification card UNLESS THE APPLICANT SUBMITS THE PROOF OF AGE, IDENTITY, AND LAWFUL PRESENCE THAT IS REQUIRED FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A DRIVER'S LICENCE (sic) OR AN INSTRUCTION PERMIT BY SECTION 42-2-104.3.” [capitals in original]

From the May 2 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: And, let's begin. My understanding of this -- and I've read it. It doesn't make me somebody that understands it. I've certainly read it. I've read 1313. If I read this correctly, Secretary, that the documents that I can present to the driver's license bureau to get myself a license -- and, as you point out, having a Colorado driver's license is one of the cornerstones or keystones of identification. So now under 1313, if I present an unverifiable foreign passport, that can be used. Is that correct?

COFFMAN: Oh, that's correct. And I believe you can even use a birth certificate from another country.

BOYLES: How about --

COFFMAN: I mean, it doesn't have to have a photo.

BOYLES: All right. How about a non-legal name passport? I under --

COFFMAN: Um --

BOYLES: I mean, what I'm saying is, these are the list of things that I have looked at and been told they will be, they will be accepted.

COFFMAN: No, yeah. It doesn't have to have your --

BOYLES: Yeah.

COFFMAN: -- your, your full name on there.

BOYLES: If you look at this, sect -- items six through 11 of H, HB 07-1313, the documents that could be so easily forged -- I mean, you can go on the street --

COFFMAN: Absolutely.

BOYLES: -- and buy --

COFFMAN: Mmm-hmm.

BOYLES: -- these, these documents that you could take and get a driver's license.

COFFMAN: Absolutely.

BOYLES: So, as someone wiser than me once wrote, your basic human right is your identity. And I think that's one of the great lines of all time. So, if I have a birth certificate issued out of this country, is that correct?

COFFMAN: That's correct.

BOYLES: Or -- I mean, I look at these lists --

COFFMAN: Well, and also I think, you know, we can take now driver's licenses from any state.

BOYLES: That's right.

COFFMAN: And, and, and -- there are states that will allow the maticular consulate card.

BOYLES: Matricula c --, c , -- that's right. Which Mayor [Wellington] Webb allowed to be accepted here.

COFFMAN: Right, and, and so -- that -- and, and -- and these things are not allowed currently, to be -- you know, those states, we don't have total reciprocity. Those states that have loose standards that allow that, we don't allow tho -- the, the, those driver's licenses to be used when somebody comes in and wants to get a Colorado driver's license. So, you know, whether or not our standards --

BOYLES: And, by the way -- by the way, on the list of things are tribal ID cards. Which, unless I miss my guess, [University of Colorado professor] Ward Churchill has one.

COFFMAN: [Laughs] He very well might. I don't know.

BOYLES: And so I can take a tribal ID card -- how verifiable would a tribal ID card be under 1313? This is the bill that's on, it's on “Tax” Ritter's desk right now.

COFFMAN: Well, that would certainly be one of the better forms of identification compared to the, the things that are authorized under 1313. But I think the thing to remember is, is how this is going to just, I mean, you know, again, I think they're trying to blur the line --

BOYLES: Of course.

COFFMAN: -- between who's in this country legally --

BOYLES: Thank you.

COFFMAN: -- and who is not.

From the May 3 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: Now -- I, again, I've read this. I don't pretend to be --

COFFMAN: Mmm-hmm.

BOYLES: -- any legislative expert, but --

COFFMAN: Sure.

BOYLES: -- the amendment language would allow a single unverifiable document, like a foreign passport, or a nonlegal name passport, to fulfill the requirement necessary to get a driver's license for the state of Colorado. Mike, what the hell are they thinking?

COFFMAN: You know, I think if you look at the legislation, it really -- what the legislation takes out from existing law, and, and I think in the, the last section, Section 3, it goes --

BOYLES: Yes.

COFFMAN: -- it, it deletes this language [reads]:

An applicant who submits a birth certificate or other documentary evidence issued by an entity other than a state or the United States shall also submit such proof as the department may require that the applicant is lawfully present in the United States.

BOYLES: Yeah. Isn't that --

COFFMAN: It removes that.

BOYLES: That's beauty, isn't it?

COFFMAN: It, it takes that out. And then the other provision that it takes out in Section 3, it takes out this language from current law [reads]:

An applicant who submits as proof of identity a driver's license or identification card issued by a state that issues driver's licenses or identification cards to persons who are not lawfully present in the United States shall also submit such proof as the department may require that the applicant is lawfully present in the United States.

COFFMAN: And it removes that language.

BOYLES: So there, there -- I mean, so what starts out with this sympathetic, the homeless veteran --

COFFMAN: Mmm-hmm.

BOYLES: -- turns into item six through 11 in the bill.

COFFMAN: Mmm-hmm.

BOYLES: These documents, as Stan Weekes [Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform director] has pointed out, can be so easily forged.

COFFMAN: Oh -- right -- there's one that says that you -- if -- it, I think it's a, a tax form.

BOYLES: Yes.

COFFMAN: That -- but, but you can download that --

BOYLES: Yes.

COFFMAN: -- and fill it out.

BOYLES: Yes.

COFFMAN: And, and that then becomes a form of identification?

BOYLES: And that will get you a driver's license, which also allow you to vote, do so many other things as well.