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Read comments (6)In recent decades, they've also become passports to everyday life in the U.S., required for boarding airplanes, cashing checks, entering federal buildings and more.
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The change stems from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Eighteen of the 19 terrorists who hijacked airplanes that day used driver's licenses or similar identification to board the doomed planes. Many of those licenses were fraudulently obtained.
After studying the tragedy, the 9/11 Commission concluded that minimum standards are needed for state-issued driver's licenses and identity cards. Congress responded by passing the REAL ID Act of 2005.
Basically, the act requires states to:
* Incorporate information and security features into each card.
* Require proof of the identity and U.S. citizenship or legal residency of each applicant.
* Verify the documents presented by each applicant.
* Set security standards for offices issuing licenses and identification cards.
States are not required to adopt the standards, but residents of noncompliant states must use another form of identification, such as a passport, to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.
The new standards are to be in place by May 11, but none of the states are expected to make that goal. All have applied for extensions that push the deadline back to Dec. 31, 2009.
Tennessee Department of Safety spokesperson Laura McPherson said a committee is reviewing the regulations and determining what changes Tennessee needs to make.
Persons who apply for a driver's license in Tennessee are already required to show proof that they are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. The new requirements, however, will require states to verify the documents, most likely through an interstate communication network.
The changes are expected to be expensive.
The National Governors Association estimated in July that the changes "will exceed $11 billion over the next five years, including $1 billion in up-front costs merely to create systems and processes necessary to implement the law and prepare to re-enroll all 245 million driver's license and identification card holders."
The Tennessee General Assembly described the REAL ID requirements as yet another unfunded federal mandate. Last June, the legislative body adopted a non-binding resolution against REAL ID and Gov. Phil Bredesen signed it. The resolution said the "mandate to the states ... to issue what is, in effect, a national identification card appears to be an attempt to commandeer the political machinery of the states and to require them to be agents of the federal government, in violation of the principles of federalism contained in the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. ..."
It's too early to know how those costs will affect the driver's license fees in Tennessee. The answer, McPherson said, will depend on how many federal grants Tennessee may receive. She said the state is in the process of applying for grants.
In the meantime, the General Assembly appropriated $1 million in the current 2007-2008 budget for REAL ID. McPherson said the Department of Safety "plans to spend $123,000 for a contractor to create and document a comprehensive in-depth business process analysis and information systems needs requirement for a new Driver License Information System. This contract has not yet been finalized."
The plan will dictate how the rest of this year's $1 million is spent.
The safety department is requesting another $26.5 million in the 2008-2009 budget proposal. The budget has not yet been finalized. McPherson said funding sources include a non-recurring $6.5 million state general fund appropriation and a non-recurring appropriation of $20 million for estimated excess funds in the state's title and registration system-development reserve.
The $26.5 million request will be used for the complete re-design of the state's current Driver License Information System, she said.
Thanks, skcusa1 for the Ron Paul comments. As far as I'm concerned, he's about the only presidential candidate fit for the office. He never voted for a tax increase; he never voted for legislation that wasn't constitutional; he WILL put an end to illegal immigration and the north American economic union betrayal; he will end our empirialism abroad; he will reduce the size of the federal government by getting rid of the unconsititutional departments and bureaucrats; he will get rid of the Federal Reserve money grab scheme; and he will get us out of United Nations treaties that seek to replace our Constitution. With McCain, Clinton, and Obama all we're going to get is more bad, intrusive, tax and spend government. I WILL vote for Ron Paul next November. I HOPE other concerned citizens will too.
Summary:
Those who are willing to allow the government to establish a Soviet-style internal passport system because they think it will make us safer are terribly mistaken. Subjecting every citizen to surveillance and "screening points" will actually make us less safe, not in the least because it will divert resources away from tracking and apprehending terrorists and deploy them against innocent Americans!
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by Ron Paul, Dr. September 16, 2004
Washington politicians are once again seriously considering imposing a national identification card - and it may well become law before the end of the 108th Congress. The much-hailed 9/11 Commission report released in July recommends a federal identification card and, worse, a "larger network of screening points" inside the United States. Does this mean we are to have "screening points" inside our country where American citizens will be required to "show their papers" to government officials? It certainly sounds that way!
As I have written recently, the 9/11 Commission is nothing more than ex-government officials and lobbyists advising current government officials that we need more government for America to be safe. Yet it was that same government that failed so miserably on September 11, 2001.
Congress has embraced the 9/11 Commission report uncritically since its release in July. Now Congress is rushing to write each 9/11 Commission recommendation into law before the November election. In the same way Congress rushed to pass the PATRIOT Act after the September 11 attacks to be seen "doing something," it looks like Congress is about to make the same mistake again of rushing to pass liberty-destroying legislation without stopping to consider the consequences. Because it is so controversial, we may see legislation mandating a national identification card with biometric identifiers hidden in bills implementing 9/11 Commission recommendations. We have seen this technique used in the past on controversial measures.
A national identification card, in whatever form it may take, will allow the federal government to inappropriately monitor the movements and transactions of every American. History shows that governments inevitably use the power to monitor the actions of people in harmful ways. Claims that the government will protect the privacy of Americans when implementing a national identification card ring hollow. We would do well to remember what happened with the Social Security number. It was introduced with solemn restrictions on how it could be used, but it has become a de facto national identifier.
Those who are willing to allow the government to establish a Soviet-style internal passport system because they think it will make us safer are terribly mistaken. Subjecting every citizen to surveillance and "screening points" will actually make us less safe, not in the least because it will divert resources away from tracking and apprehending terrorists and deploy them against innocent Americans!
The federal government has no constitutional authority to require law-abiding Americans to present any form of identification before they engage in private transactions. Instead of forcing all Americans to prove to law enforcement that they are not terrorists, we should be focusing our resources on measures that really will make us safer. For starters, we should take a look at our dangerously porous and unguarded borders. We have seen already this summer how easy it is for individuals possibly seeking to do us harm to sneak across the border into our country. In July, Pakistani citizen Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed, who is on the federal watch list, reportedly crossed illegally into Texas from Mexico. She was later arrested when she tried to board a plane in New York, but she should have never been able to cross our border in the first place!
We must take effective measures to protect ourselves from a terrorist attack. That does not mean rushing to embrace legislation that in the long run will do little to stop terrorism, but will do a great deal to undermine the very way of life we should be protecting. Just as we must not allow terrorists to threaten our lives, we must not allow government to threaten our liberties. We should reject the notion of a national identification card.
"The new standards are to be in place by May 11, but none of the states are expected to make that goal."
Just like No Child Left Behind, and any other program this administration has started..
Lack of funding, lack of real research, and no real thinking other than "we gotta get them terrorists"..
January 2009... I can't wait.
Please tell me how this will stop illegal aliens from entering our society and burdening our social security system , hospitals and job markets ,when our own government keeps giving more to illegals than its own tax payers who will be the ones to lose out on this deal.
At least the comments of this newspaper's website give some balance to the story. It's obvious that the State Gazette is just unwilling to do that on their own.
by Ron Paul, Dr. May 9, 2005
The US House of Representatives passed a spending bill last week that contains provisions establishing a national ID card, and the Senate is poised to approve the measure in the next few days. This week marks the American public's last chance to convince their Senators they don't want to live in a nation that demands papers from its citizens as they go about their lives.
Absent a political miracle in the Senate, within two years every American will need a conforming national ID card to participate in ordinary activities. This REAL ID Act establishes a massive, centrally-coordinated database of highly personal information about American citizens: at a minimum their name, date of birth, place of residence, Social Security number, and physical characteristics. The legislation also grants open-ended authority to the Secretary of Homeland Security to require biometric information on IDs in the future. This means your harmless looking driver's license could contain a retina scan, fingerprints, DNA information, or radio frequency technology.
Think this sounds farfetched? Read the REAL ID Act, HR 418, for yourself. Its text is available on the Library of Congress website. A careful reading also reveals that states will be required to participate in the "Drivers License Agreement," which was crafted by DMV lobbyists years ago. This agreement creates a massive database of sensitive information on American citizens that can be shared with Canada and Mexico!
Terrorism is the excuse given for virtually every new power grab by the federal government, and the national ID is no exception. But federal agencies have tried to create a national ID for years, long before the 9-11 attacks. In fact, a 1996 bill sought to do exactly what the REAL ID Act does: transform state drivers' licenses into de facto national ID cards. At the time, Congress was flooded with calls by angry constituents and the bill ultimately died.
Proponents of the REAL ID Act continue to make the preposterous claim that the bill does not establish a national ID card. This is dangerous and insulting nonsense. Let's get the facts straight: The REAL ID Act transforms state motor vehicle departments into agents of the federal government. Nationalizing standards for driver's licenses and birth certificates in a federal bill creates a national ID system, pure and simple. Having the name of your particular state on the ID is meaningless window dressing.
Federally imposed standards for drivers' license and birth certificates make a mockery of federalism and the 10th amendment. While states technically are not forced to accept the federal standards, any refusal to comply would mean their residents could not get a job, receive Social Security, or travel by plane. So rather than imposing a direct mandate on the states, the federal government is blackmailing them into complying with federal dictates.
One overriding point has been forgotten: Criminals don't obey laws! As with gun control, national ID cards will only affect law-abiding citizens. Do we really believe a terrorist bent on murder is going to dutifully obtain a federal ID card? Do we believe that people who openly flout our immigration laws will nonetheless respect our ID requirements? Any ID card can be forged; any federal agency or state DMV is susceptible to corruption. Criminals can and will obtain national ID cards, or operate without them. National ID cards will be used to track the law-abiding masses, not criminals.