LOS ANGELES (AP):

California on Thursday joined the growing list of states that allow immigrants who are in the US illegally to obtain driver's licences - a measure supported not only by Latino activists but by police chiefs and insurance authorities.

Democratic Gov Jerry Brown signed the bill in front of a cheering crowd of immigrants and their supporters, predicting other parts of the country will follow the example set by the nation's most populous state.

The licences, which are expected to become available no later than January 2015, will carry a special designation on the front and a notice stating that the document is not official federal identification and cannot be used to prove eligibility for employment or public benefits.

"This is only the first step," Brown said outside City Hall in Los Angeles. "When a million people without their documents drive legally and with respect in the state of California, the rest of this country will have to stand up and take notice. No longer are undocumented people in the shadows."

Ten other states have enacted measures to give driver's licences to immigrants in the country illegally, many of them in the past year, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

Some of those states issue only one kind of licence. But laws in many states, including Oregon and Colorado, create distinctions between the licence given to immigrants and the one issued to other drivers.

Some immigrant advocates initially raised concerns that a different licence in California would contribute to racial profiling. The new law bans discrimination based on the licence and states that the licence cannot be used as a basis for arresting someone for being in the US illegally.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said he believes the marker is insignificant in relation to what the licence will do for immigrants.

"Those distinctions mean little to hard-working people who simply want to drive to work or drive their kids to school or soccer practice without fear," he said.

State officials estimate 1.4 million drivers will apply for licences under the law over the next three years. The measure, written by Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo, will grant licences to anyone who passes the written and road tests, regardless of immigration status.

State and local officials touted the importance of getting immigrants properly trained and tested so that they know how to drive and are familiar with the rules of the road in California.

"That's what this bill is about, making the streets of this state safer," Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said. The bill had the backing of the state's Police Chiefs Association and insurance authorities.

It isn't clear whether entities such as local government offices, libraries or banks will accept the licence as identification.

Over the past two decades, immigrant advocates have pushed to get licences in California. The effort took on more urgency in recent years as immigrants caught driving without a licence began seeing their cars impounded and wound up being screened by federal immigration authorities for deportation.