Monday, January 16, 2006
Editorial: Real ID legislation needs a reality check
States say meeting the new identification requirements will be an expensive nightmare. Congress should listen to those concerns.
From the RoundTable blog
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Across the nation, states are warning that the personal identification standards and security improvements required by Congress cannot be met by the 2008 deadline.
Congress should listen to those serious -- and legitimate -- complaints.
The federal Real ID Act, passed as part of a defense appropriations bill last year, is designed to ensure that people with driver's licenses are actually who the licenses say they are.
It imposes strict standards on states regarding what documents those applying for licenses must present to prove their identity, residence and citizenship status, and requires states to verify the authenticity of those documents.
In addition, the legislation requires states to store the documents for up to 10 years, and to link with central databases to help detect duplicate applications and expose illegal immigrants.
Residents of states that fail to meet the requirements will not be able to use driver's licenses as IDs for activities such as boarding airplanes or entering federal courthouses.
A Virginia task force led by Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner D.B. Smit issued a report calling on Congress to extend the deadline, modify some of the law's more stringent requirements and help the states pay for the expensive changes.
The task force report warns that many of the state's poor, elderly or disabled residents may not be able to produce the necessary documents, leaving them without the identity cards that are "critical to everyone's way of life."
The report also estimates that compliance will cost Virginia as much as $169 million in startup costs and as much as $63 million in annual operating expenses.
In addition to the expense, obtaining a driver's license will become more cumbersome, taking weeks rather than the current average of 21 minutes.
An August survey by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators shows nationwide opposition to the act by those charged with implementing it. An Illinois official responding to the survey called it "a nightmare for all states."
The goal of the legislation is worthy. The revelation that many of the 9/11 hijackers had multiple genuine driver's licenses underscored the ease of obtaining legitimate identification using fraudulent information.
The ability to ensure that, for instance, airline passengers are who they say they are is clearly vital to national security. But Real ID puts all the burden, and cost, for creating a de facto national ID card onto the states.
The burden seems too great for many states, some of which must update decades-old computer systems.
Betty Serian, the deputy secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation, echoed many other state officials when she called the act's mandates "impossible and unrealistic."
Foisting "impossible and unrealistic" -- and unfunded -- mandates on the states will do nothing to enhance security. Congress should take another look at the Real ID legislation to ensure that it is not only "real," but also realistic.
