- Five states, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Arkansas and
Maine, have enacted legislation informing the federal government that their
states will not comply with the Real ID Act, a law passed by Congress in
2005 which will essentially transform driver's licenses into a national
ID Card.
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- The Act requires each state to change their driver's
license system to meet national standards and ensure that their databases
are linked with other states and is set to take effect by May, 2008.
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- Under the Act, states and federal government would share
access to a vast national database that could include images of birth certificates,
marriage licenses, divorce papers, court ordered separations, medical records,
and detailed information on the name, date of birth, race, religion, ethnicity,
gender, address, telephone, e-mail address, and Social Security Number
for more than 240 million with no requirements or controls on how this
database might be used. Many Americans may not have the documents required
to obtain a REAL ID, or they may face added requirements based on arbitrary
and capricious decisions made by DMV employees.
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- States are in revolt primarily because they simply cannot
afford to comply. Estimated costs for full implementation are as high as
$14.6 billion (or $292 million per state. Moreover, individuals will have
to cover an additional $7.8 billion in additional fees, raising the price
tag for the Real ID Act to $23 billion. In many cases the technology necessary
for compliance actually does not exist. Moreover, in March, 2007, the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) released 162 pages of proposed regulations which
States are supposed to implement as part of the Real ID Act.
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- Under the DHS dictates, the Real ID Act is nothing more
than a federal take over of state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMVs).
Everything for the color of the card backgrounds to the fonts used must
conform to federal standards. States will have to completely overhaul their
systems to comply.
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- The DHS requires states to set up information databases
that are shared by all states, to allow information verification for driver's
licenses, passports and foreign documents, yet the technology to do that
doesn't yet exist. There isn't even a national database system yet in place
to verify birth certificates.
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- The DHS regulations do nothing to protect individual
privacy in its proposed databases. It conveniently says it "would
be outside its authority to address this issue (privacy)." It simply
leaves the issue for states to work out.
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- The DHS regulations require that every citizen applying
for a driver's license must present two verifiable documents to prove identity.
That requirement alone will create massive lines and backups in DMVs across
the nation as every single American will have to provide such information.
Worse, the same documentation will be required for RENEWAL as well. Some
estimate the time required to get a new driver's license will be at least
four months. Proof of address must be shown with not just one document,
but two. Birth certificates must be verified with state vital records offices,
even though, as stated, there is no database from which to access such
information.
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- And the new system will do absolutely nothing to stop
terrorists or illegals from acquiring driver's licenses, nor will it protect
us from identity theft. Because the DHS acknowledges that it needs an exemption
allowing individuals to bypass many of the states' verification and document
requirements, identity thieves and terrorists will have huge loopholes
to exploit to obtain Real IDs.
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- These are the reasons why the five states mentioned above
have passed legislation refusing to comply. They simply can't.
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- In addition to those five states, thirteen more states
have passed legislation in one chamber of their legislatures to refuse
compliance, including; Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma,
Missouri, Minnesota, Georgia, South Carolina, West Virginia, Vermont and
New Hampshire.
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- Nine states have introduced legislation that is still
waiting action including; Oregon, Texas, Nebraska, Illinois, Kentucky,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Massachusetts.
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- The federal government overstepped its Constitutional
bounds when it tried to force the creation of a National ID on Americas.
Now the states are what they should always when faced with that situation
- they are saying no. Hopefully that will become a habit.
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- http://r.vresp.com/?AmericanPolicyCenter/cc97d9a4d0/945204/8f00fdeeb9/357b86c
- Visit the American Policy Center
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