PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION : UNITED STATES: LAW: LEGISLATURE AND LEGISLATIVE: Real ID Act Edges Closer to Passage

[David P. Dillard]

PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION : UNITED STATES: LAW: LEGISLATURE AND LEGISLATIVE:
Real ID Act Edges Closer to Passage

Posted 5/5/2005 11:33 PM
Real ID Act Edges Closer to Passage
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
USA TODAY
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-05-dmv-changes_x.htm>

Maryland and state governments nationwide have tried for years to make it
more convenient for drivers to get and renew licenses at local motor
vehicle offices. They have allowed renewals by mail, opened satellite and
express offices and put some services, such as vehicle registration,
online.

Now, state officials here and elsewhere are concerned that a move by
Congress to discourage illegal immigration by requiring license applicants
to produce four types of identification could lead to long waits and a
cumbersome, confusing process to get a driver's license or an official
state ID.

"The time the customer will spend in the MVA will increase," said Buel
Young, spokesman for the agency.

The Real ID Act, which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives
on Thursday and likely will clear the Senate next week, would require most
license applicants to show a photo ID, a birth certificate, proof of their
Social Security number and a document showing their full name and address.
All of the documents then would have to be checked against federal
databases.

Most states now require driver's license applicants to show two or three
forms of ID. Maryland, which has spent three years devising a
customer-friendly, one-stop process for license renewals, does not collect
and scan birth certificates and other personal documents that it would
have to handle under Congress' plan. To do so, the MVA would need more
computer space and more employees, Young said.

The act would give states three years to comply. After that, licenses from
states that did not meet the new federal standards could not be used to
board an airplane or enter certain federal buildings. The National
Conference of State Legislatures has blasted the plan as an unfunded
federal mandate that could cost states $500 million.

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David Dillard
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