Real ID Deadlines Delayed, Opponents Say Still Not Enough
With the public concern over the economy and the war in Iraq drawing interest from most national headlines, and the country's focus diverted to the primary races for presidential nominees for the upcoming November elections, it's sometimes easy to forget some of the more controversial legislative measures that have began to move in with the commencement of the new year.
This is certainly the case with the Real ID Act of 2005, whose provision of the requirements for what many people are calling a "de facto national ID card." According to the provisions of the law as originally introduced, ID cards would continue to be issued by individual states as they currently are, but new standards would be implemented in order to create uniformity among state ID cards.
The standard information which will be required is similar to that currently existing on most state-issued ID cards—name, address, date of birth, photo—but will provide more requirements, such as standard tamperproofing and security features, as well as a machine-readable bar code.
Privacy concerns and a prohibitive cost (as much as $8 per license) have caused 17 states to reject the law, passing laws to call for its repeal or formally opposing implementation in their states. Some states and legislators have called the measures outright "unconstitutional."
What's caused more controversy than even these standards, however, is the role that the ID card will serve starting in just a few months. In order to encourage the lagging states to get in line with its program, the Bush Administration has prohibited boarding airplanes and entering federal buildings using normal driver's licenses without the Real ID features starting on May 11 of this year. States that have taken steps to implementation can ask for a waiver.
Recently, government officials offered a further extension to non-compliant states, moving back the deadline for final implementation from 2012 to 2017. One step to make the transition easier is to implement the card with new licensees for those who are younger; 2017 will now be the final date for all people, regardless of age, to possess a Real ID card.
Yet this move has been criticized as well, since it doesn't offer a practical solution to the financial hurdle that many states are facing. Also, it doesn't address the concerns over privacy that the Real ID creates for many Americans. For instance, a database will be created containing all of the information required for the license, including Social Security Number, birth certificate information and other personal information, so that it can be accessed across state borders.
Despite its claims to providing better protection against identity theft due to improved security measures on the cards, the creation of a single database with all citizen information seems likely to attract the attention of ID thieves, actually making easier, opponents claim.
Many states are currently opposing the act, either formally through law or verbally in moving to draft opposing legislation, and it is a possibility that enough states will counter the law that it will force Congress to rethink its passage of the bill. For now, however, the staged implementation of the bill will continue as planned.
The current deadlines for compliance are as follows:
- 2011: States must verify with the issuing agency that all ID documents (birth certificate, social security number, etc) used to obtain driver's licenses are valid.
- 2014: All license holders born on or after Dec. 1, 1964, will be required to carry a Real ID license.
- 2017: All license holders will be required to carry a Real ID license.