States Revolt against REAL ID
Feature Story by Antoine Morris - 4/2/2008
On March 31, South Carolina became the latest state to receive an extension of the May 11 deadline for compliance with the REAL ID Act. This federal law imposes certain security standards and issuance procedures on state-issued driver's licenses and ID cards.
More controversially, it requires verification of an applicant's immigration status, "background checks" on documents used to prove identity, and the sharing of driver's license database information between states
The bill was passed in 2005 as an amendment to an emergency defense spending bill, with little debate or consideration by lawmakers. State legislatures nationwide have objected to shouldering the vast majority of the $23 billion needed to implement the law.
Union activists, immigration and civil rights advocates have long decried that REAL ID really amounts to a de facto national ID card that creates neither a safer nor freer environment.
"The REAL ID Act is one of the most poorly-conceived laws that Congress has enacted in decades. Instead of making the skies safer, it's only going to make your DMV an expensive nightmare – and a lot of perfectly law-abiding people will be treated as outcasts when they're wrongfully turned down from getting these cards," said Rob Randhava of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
The deadline for compliance is May 11, after which driver's licenses and IDs from non-complying states may not be used to board planes or enter federal buildings.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stated that it would extend the deadline until 2010 for states that ask for a waiver of the deadline, but only if those states ultimately promised to comply with the law.
States which are in compliance or have received a waiver will issue new, compliant driver's licenses and IDs on a rolling basis, usually as part of the regular license renewal process. All individuals will be required to have a compliant ID no later than either 2013 or 2017, depending on their year of birth.
In a letter to DHS, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford pointed to potential problems with creating a centralized database. "Over the past three years, security breaches, misplaced or stolen equipment, or simple carelessness at the federal government level have exposed the personal information of as many as 40 million Americans to falling into the wrong hands," said Gov. Sanford.
In light of the recent passport security breaches of Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain by unauthorized government contractors, Gov. Sanford said, "Does it really make sense to put all this information into a central database rather than house it independently across all fifty states?"
South Carolina received the DHS waiver despite explicitly stating it will not abide by all the standards in the law. Other states receiving a waiver, including California and New Hampshire, did not commit to implementation, or voiced their opposition to the law.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer recently made news by calling the waivers a "Faustian bargain." Montana was granted a waiver nonetheless, after it sent DHS a letter notifying them that the state would not comply with REAL ID. DHS, apparently wanting to avoid a confrontation, interpreted the letter as a request for a waiver.
Gov. Schweitzer told Wired News, "I sent them a horse and if they want to call it a zebra, that's up to them. They can call it whatever they want, and it wasn't a love letter."
Maine is the only remaining state that has neither complied nor received a waiver of the deadline. Thus, Maine could earn the dubious distinction of being the only state whose residents cannot use their driver's licenses to board aircraft or enter federal buildings after May 11.
DHS is expected to determine in the next several days whether it will grant a waiver for Maine. If DHS decides not to grant a waiver, and if Maine citizens are barred from using their state-issued IDs at airports, it could elevate the controversy and bring new life to efforts to repeal the law.
