Feds Infringing States Rights: $13 billion, perhaps?

Here'a an AP story by Rachel la Corte, published at OregonLive. "States are continuing to see their authority stepped on by the federal government ..."

Let's take a moment to remember that Republicans are supposed to believe in States Rights, and yet RealID is only one of many laws passed by the present administration that allow Federal jurisdiction over what used to be states issues. The No Child Left Behind Act is another well-intentioned example.

The story reports that the "National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group meeting in Seattle this week, documents pending legislation that pre-empts state authority, a problem that many say has increased in the past few years."

Some NCSL officials apparently guesstimate the cost of RealID as $13 billion (We started with estimates in the low $100 millions, and we still don't know exactly what the states have to do yet.) A quote:

Sen. Michael Balboni, R-N.Y., noted that states were working with the federal government on creating standards, but that they were ultimately left out of the law that passed.
"The REAL ID Act handcuffs state officials with unworkable, unproven, costly mandates that compel states to enforce federal immigration policy rather than advance the paramount objective of making state-issued identity documents more secure and verifiable," he said in prepared remarks at a news conference announcing the report.