The Family Affairs Department gave its blessing to a bill that would allow any 16-year old student, who has a grade point average of 2.50 or higher, to apply for a drivers license.
     
     According to a written testimony by Family Affairs Secretary, Yanitsia Irizarry, it’s imperative that the government promote the best interests of the public and that the requirement of a respectable grade average in order to have a drivers license should induce students to apply themselves more at school.
     “We understand that by imposing this requirement we are telling our students that if they are responsible in their school work, then they will have the privilege to drive through the roads of Puerto Rico,” Irizarry said.
     
     Still, a major hurdle remains as the Education Secretary, Jesús Rivera, has yet to endorse the measure, which has caused the measure’s proponent, New Progressive Party Rep. Angel ‘Gary’ Rodríguez, to blast him publicly.
     “The Secretary has left me waiting twice. I campaigned for him with my two district senators, something that I now regret. For us the only way to make the Secretary attend to our needs is to force him to come here,” Rodríguez said.
     
     In his written testimony during one of the early hearings on the project, Rivera stated the possible loss of $400,000 in revenue due to Treasury stamps on the licenses as the main reason for his opposition.
     
     When he presented his arguments, Rivera stated that 38,000 of the approximately 80,000 students eligible for the licenses would not qualify due to poor academic standing and that would force the loss of the revenue.
     “The testimony presented by the Secretary appears to be the position of the Treasury Department, not of an Education Secretary,” Rodríguez said.
     Irizarry suggested that students with medically certified conditions should be excluded from the grade requirement. She also stated the need to make clear the documentary evidence students would need when they take the final driving exam.
     “If the students are cooperative with their school work, help their teachers and directors, with a recommendation of the school board they should be able to get their license earlier than at 18 years old,” Rodríguez said.
     
     Although the concept has been received with some skepticism by the Department of Education, it said to have the backing of Gov. Fortuño and many members of the NPP-controlled legislature.