Deep-six Real ID:

"Deep-six Real ID" is the title of an (unsigned) opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun online that goes right to the point:

A better idea would be to junk the so-called Real ID plan altogether. Verifying citizenship should not be a state responsibility. The local departments of motor vehicles have been put in the impossible position of authenticating birth certificates and passports and immigration documents when their real job is trying to make sure people who get licenses know how to drive.

...

Politicians seeking simple answers to complex problems are rarely successful. But Congress' boneheaded plan to convert 50 state driver's license bureaus into de facto immigration and homeland security agencies is proving every bit the disaster critics anticipated.

Congress' mandate to re-license all 245 million drivers in the nation within five years beginning May 2008 in order to verify their citizenship will cost more than $11 billion and can't possibly be accomplished on schedule, according to a survey of state officials charged with performing the task. Federal regulators haven't even issued guidelines for the program yet.

What's more, this national identification process will neither weed out terrorists nor make a dent in the flow of illegal immigration - the two problems it was devised to address.

Many state governors want to get rid of Real ID. The states' federal congress people should get on the same page.

Pay up or Shut up, say our governors ...

In August, "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called on state legislators Thursday to embrace new federal driver's license requirements to strengthen security, but state lawmakers later demanded that Congress either fund the program or drop it." So says ERIK SCHELZIG, Associated Press Writer, in a FoxNews article. Chertoff tried to persuade the governors of the importance of this program to national security. (If you've been reading this blog, you know that's at best a vague hope!) But the governors zeroed in on the money, with total estimates now in the billions. "NCSL members later voted to approve a resolution to demand Congress either find a way to pay for the Real ID Act - or to repeal it by the end of 2007."

Now I shall editorialize. There's a strange logical disconnect going on here! Congress has the power to repeal this law or to fund it. Congress people represent their constituents who live in - you guessed it - states! The governors of these very states are really upset with Real ID. Why aren't their congressional representatives taking action? Why Not???????

Sheesh.

Tell me again: WHO needs a Real ID license?

One aspect of Real ID that will magnify the cost of drivers licenses is that many non-drivers will need them. Toddlers will need them to fly, for example. But even people who never fly, never drive and never go to federal court (and I'm including a LOT of inner city grownup residents here) will need to get Real ID licenses if another dumb law passes. The idea here is to require all VOTERS to show a Real ID card.

This idea has come up several times and proposed House legislation is currently discussed by Nicole Gaouette in an article in the L.A. Times online, here.

I'm not going to spend much time on this aspect of Real ID, for a simple reason: our courts have many times declared laws unconstitutional that place any undue burden in front of people trying to vote. I think that a long, frustrating day at the motor vehicle bureau will qualify as an undue burden. I hope this issue does NOT have to be fought out in the courts!

The pricetag increases to: $11 billion over five years!

In June 2005, I wrote that Congressman Sensenbrenner thought Real ID would cost each state about $2 million to implement. At that time, some states were complaining his estimate was way low, with maybe $20 million required per state (and that's not federal money!). Now, analysts have surveyed 47 of the states' Motor vehicle administrations, and then new estinate seems to be $11 billion over five years to implement Real ID. And the federal government still isn't paying. Our states will be reaching for this money somehow, and getting very little value out of it. Here's my source: Eric Kelderman, a writer for Stateline.org, and his article is here. Some quotes:

State officials are asking the federal government for more time and money to comply with the 2005 Real ID act, which was passed to keep driver’s licenses out of the hands of terrorists and to make it tougher for illegal immigrants to get state-issued IDs. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has yet to issue specific guidelines for the law.

States have objected to the law for several reasons, but mostly because it may require all license holders to make an in-person visit to get the new identification within five years of the 2008 deadline. Currently, states offer a number of alternatives for renewing licenses -- such as through the mail or Internet -- which take less time and state personnel to process.

Legislatures in Kentucky, New Hampshire and Washington state already have considered bills to reject the Real ID mandates, and several more could follow that path if the rules are not modified, said Matt Sundeen, a transportation specialist with NCSL.

Something Positive about real ID:

A security expert, Phil Windley, said something positive about Real ID (in an interview Podcast) that, I'm afraid, makes good sense. He says that in the long run, if left to themselves, states will develop something like real ID. For example, the states are working hard now to standardize their criminal and offense data because sharing it is critical in catching criminals. Similarly, they will find advantages in tightening and standardizing driver's licenses over time. So - you might think - perhaps we should grin and bear Real ID.

But there are two important differences between the current real ID legislation, and what states might eventually do, that militate heavily, I believe, against Real ID:

1. Real ID is officially on a tight time table. Given less than two years, there's only time to do it wrong, producing an insecure, hackable, error-prone, horribly expensive and time-wasting system.


2. Left to themselves, states may standardize liceses for drivers, but Real Id is for almost everyone, including toddlers who want to fly or enter a federal building. Real ID forces the states to enroll far more people than they would likely reach on their own, and we'll all have to sacrifice our time (standing in line) and pay more state fees and taxes, to cover them.