Topeka ? A law enacted last year requiring people to prove they’re in Kansas legally before getting a driver’s license is expected to reduce the number of licenses issued to illegal immigrants, a Senate committee was told Thursday.

“Over the next six years, we might see 50,000 licenses not renewed because they can’t prove lawful residence,” Secretary of Revenue Joan Wagnon told the Federal and State Affairs Committee.

Kansas once had a reputation as a place where it was easy for an illegal immigrant to get a driver’s license, but that has changed, senators were told.

“When word got out that Kansas no longer was an easy state to get documents, the numbers have gone down,” said Carmen Alldritt, Division of Vehicles director. “It has put the squash on fraud.”

Wagnon said the number of people who can’t prove they are legally in the state and request a waiver for not having a Social Security number, so they can get a license, has dropped from an average of 100 a week to about 10 a week. A person must be a citizen or legally reside in the United States to get a Social Security number.

“We’re confident that we’re not passing out driver’s licenses to people not lawfully present in the state,” Wagnon said.

Committee chairman Pete Brungardt said that while the law is imposing stricter requirements for getting a driver’s license, it’s also creating another problem: Most insurance companies require a license before they’ll provide coverage.

“Now you have people without a driver’s license but driving without insurance,” said the Republican from Salina. “We’re making a push for everybody to have insurance but have set it up where some people can’t get it.”

Brungardt said illegal immigrants often take a driver’s license and use it to get other forms of identification, such as a library card or to start a bank account. He said last year’s law curtails that.

“There’s a belief that undocumented people were getting IDs to forge an appearance of citizenship,” he said. “If you’re trying the fill your wallet full of documents, you wouldn’t start here.”

The law prohibits issuing a driver’s license to anyone who fails to prove lawful residence in the United States, and it requires proof that the person is a U.S. citizen or a noncitizen residing legally in the country.

Kansas is among 44 states that require evidence of lawful presence in the state to get a driver’s license, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

“Generally, the trend has been to be more restrictive. These driver’s license debates are getting mixed up in the immigration debate and state policymakers often think this is the way to control immigration,” said Tyler Moran, NILC employment policy director.

As in many other states, dealing with illegal immigration is an important issue for legislators.

Sen. Peggy Palmer, an Augusta Republican, has introduced legislation modeled after an Arizona law enacted last year.

The bill would make it illegal for employers to knowingly hire illegal immigrants and requires them to use E-Verify, a federal database to check whether a person has a valid Social Security number.

The bill also would restrict public assistance for illegal immigrants to what is required by federal law – public schooling, emergency medical care and immunizations. It also would repeal the 2004 law allowing some illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates.

House Democrats are pushing a bill dealing with employer sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants. House Republicans also are talking about increased penalties for dealing in false identification documents and for illegal immigrants who register to vote.