California Gov. Jerry Brown has been on a roll lately -- he's implemented a "revenge porn" law to protect online victims from their exes, he's tackling the war on drugs with his more lenient stance on nonviolent drug offenders and he's allowed undocumented immigrants who have law licenses to practice law in California -- further expanding immigrants' rights.

The new bill, known as AB 1024, was signed into law last week by Brown, setting yet another precedent, making California the first state in the nation to allow undocumented immigrants who pass the State Bar exam to practice law.

The California Supreme Court, which finalizes requests of applicants to be licensed as a lawyer in California, is now authorized to approve qualified applicants regardless of their immigration status, Reuters reports.

"While Washington waffles on immigration, California's forging ahead," Brown said in an earlier statement. "I'm not waiting."

With 38 percent of California's 38 million people of Hispanic descent, why wait?

The distinctive law grew out of a case of an undocumented Mexican immigrant, Sergio Garcia, who was brought to the United States as a baby and later graduated from a California law school.  His impressive accomplishment and unfortunate barrier due to his illegal status didn't go unnoticed. He received support of the State Bar of California and the state attorney general.

The critics weren't far behind, however. Cynics of Garcia's bid to gain admission to the California bar included the U.S. Justice Department, which opposed it in a brief filed with the state's Supreme Court last year.

While Garcia may now be admitted to the California bar, the debated topic continues across the country with two other Mexican immigrants -- one in New York and another in Florida, who are pursuing similar cases.

It seems that Garcia can now find some gratification after what he calls a four-year "uphill battle of an immigrant against the federal government of the most powerful country in the world."

When Garcia received a call from Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D), the author of the bill, telling him that his battle was over, Garcia was emotional and cried "happy tears," Fox News Latino reports.

"I got choked up.  I allowed myself to relieve the stress and everything I have felt," he said. "But more than being happy for myself, I am just happy for people in my same situation who are not going to have to suffer in making their dream of becoming an attorney a reality"

Garcia, "who served as inspiration for the bill," was the first person Gonzalez called after finding out Gov. Brown had signed AB 1024.

"I was super excited," she said. "This gives (undocumented immigrants) the opportunity to continue to pursue their dreams while we wait for something to happen at the national level."

"This is also an indication that in California we can sit around and wait for immigration reform or we can start to improve the lives of the people who are here," Gonzalez added. 

What do legal, Hispanic, practicing attorneys think of the law?

San Diego criminal immigration attorney Narciso Delgado-Cruz, whose clientele is nearly 95 percent Latino, said the greatest impact this new law will have on the profession is the change in perspective, Fox News Latino adds. There will be new lawyers with a different "worldview," he said.

Delgado-Cruz stresses it's beyond crossing language barriers.

"It's not only about being able to communicate," he said.  "Clients want to be understood, they like it when a lawyer can relate to their struggles, their fears and their dreams."

Garcia, who plans on practicing civil litigation and some immigration law, also wants to help bridge the gap and fill the void, saying immigrant community is "extremely underserved" and they need lawyers that understand their challenges.

"The ability to be of service to the community and be a vehicle for social change and equality is a great thing that will help not only society but the economy in general," Garcia said.

Gonzalez also noted it is gratifying to know that the industry will now have "more culturally competent attorneys in all types of law," not just immigration.

Other Laws Affecting Immigration in California:

Earlier this month, Brown signed another law making undocumented immigrants eligible to apply for drivers licenses. California, which will join at least nine other states when the law takes effect in 2015, expects 1.4 million people to apply for licenses over three years, Reuters adds.

According to a study by the University of Southern California, more than 2.6 million people, most of them Latinos, lack legal status in the state.

Assemblyman Luis Alejo, a Democrat from Watsonville, told Reuters that the new laws "illustrate the change in California over the last 20 years."

"The bills that were signed by the governor today (Oct. 4) show that California is bucking the trend that we've seen in other states over the last few years - Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, all states that have enacted legislation that really restricted or attacked immigrants in those states," Alejo said.

"California is doing what it can at the state level in the absence of immigration reform by the U.S. Congress," he added.

While the Democratic-led U.S. Senate approved a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is unlikely to follow suit.