The Maryland State Senate moved yesterday to make permanent a program under which undocumented immigrants can get driver’s licenses, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Maryland currently has a two-tiered system for granting driver’s licenses: after new federal security standards were mandated for licenses, the state gave out licenses to residents without requiring that they prove that they’re in the country legally. Those 95,000 licenses, which could not be used for an federal purposes (like airport security), expire in 2015. Under the legislation passed this week, the licenses would be available on a permanent basis.

For proponents of the idea, it would serve a practical purpose: not only would undocumented immigrants become safer drivers (because they’d have to pass the usual tests), but they would also be able to deal with daily transactions that often require a form of identification. For opponents, though, it would make Maryland a sanctuary state.

There are close to 300,000 undocumented immigrants in Maryland. Last November voters approved a law allowing undocumented immigrants who complete high school in the state to take advantage of in-state tuition rates at public universities.