Real IDMore state commit to compliance with REAL ID
DHS reports that six more states have become complaint with the REAL ID Act, meaning that the act is finally making some headway after eight years of debating and delays. Nineteen states are now in compliance with the Act, and twenty-six more have committed to meet the standards before the deadline. The Act, passed in 2005, had an original compliance deadline of 2008, but that deadline has been extended several times, and is now 1 December 2014.
DHS reports that six more states have become complaint with the REAL ID Act, meaning that the act is finally making some headway after eight years of debating and delays.
Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, and Vermont are the six states that have conformed to the act as of 1 March.
A Heritage Foundation report notes that the totals show that nineteen states are now in compliance with the Act, and twenty-six more have committed to meet the standards before the deadline.
The REAL ID Act calls on states to enforce minimum security standards when issuing driver’s licenses. The 9/11 commission found that eighteen of the 9/11 terrorists had a total of thirty state driver’s licenses among them, and six of the licenses were used to board planes the day of the attacks.
The 9/11 Commission report persuaded Congress that there was a need to find a way to make sure terrorists could not take advantage of state IDs, and the REAL ID Act sets the standards for more secure state driver’s licenses. For an ID card to be REAL ID-compliant, the ID must have a full legal name, signature, date of birth, gender, unique identifying number, principal residence address, and front-facing photograph of the person.
After 1 December 2014, nearly ten years after the Act was signed into law, most non-compliant IDs will not be accepted for “official purposes,” including boarding a commercial flight or entering a federal building.
When the REAL ID Act was enactedin 2005, states were given until 2008 to comply with the act. The deadline has since been extended twice.
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming have already changed their policies to comply with the act.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) said that he does not support the act because it essentially turns driver licenses into national ID cards. According to Alexander the act is an “unfunded federal mandate imposed on the states.”
The Heritage Foundation report, however, states that there is a lot of misinformation about the REAL ID, but that the three basic facts are:
- REAL ID is not an unfunded mandate,
- REAL ID does not create a national ID card or federal database, and
- REAL ID does reduce fraud and identity theft.
