Homeland Security Gives States More Time for Delayed Implementation of REAL ID

This story appears in the Oct. 19 print edition of Transport Topics.

The Department of Homeland Security has given states several more weeks to request an extension for implementing toughened driver’s licenses and identification card security standards mandated by the 2005 REAL ID law.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano extended the deadline to give Congress time to consider alternative legislation, known as PASS ID, which would be less costly, less burdensome and less controversial to implement, Matthew Chandler, a DHS spokesman said.

“REAL ID has put DHS, the states and the traveling public on a collision course, and Congress must act fast to fix it,” he said.

Chandler said that although Napolitano opposes implementation of REAL ID and is working to support the “Providing for Additional Security in States’ Identification Act of 2009,” or PASS ID, she still is bound to enforce the existing REAL ID federal law.

“Secretary Napolitano believes that PASS ID is the solution to the current stalemate that we find ourselves in under REAL ID,” Chandler said. “Under REAL ID, states that are not materially compliant with REAL ID by Dec. 31, 2009, risk that their residents will not be able to use state-issued driver’s licenses for official purposes, such as domestic air travel.”

The extension does not change the Dec. 31 compliance date — the date by when states must begin to issue driver’s licenses, commercial driver licenses and identification cards that are in compliance with the REAL ID standards — but it merely requires states to request an exemption by Dec. 1.

With the extension, the states would have until May 11, 2011, to implement the REAL ID Act, formally titled “Rearing and Empowering America for Longevity against acts of International Destruction Act.”

Several states have strongly criticized the post 9/11 REAL ID legislation as an “unfunded mandate.”

Officials in 18 states have said they intend to ignore the law and have passed resolutions banning its implementation.

The REAL ID law will bar individuals from entering federal buildings, airports and nuclear plants without the new more secure form of identification.

The fate of the PASS ID act, introduced in June by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), is unknown. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved the bill in July, but the full Senate has not yet voted on it. A companion bill in the House has been introduced, but no further action has been taken.

Napolitano opposed the REAL ID program when she was governor of Arizona and has been publicly opposing it in her new federal post since April.

In a policy position statement, the National Governors Association said it agrees with the necessity of protecting the security and integrity of driver’s licenses but said the REAL ID Act “places unnecessary and costly burdens on states.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, said she supports many provisions of the PASS ID Act, but she told Napolitano that she remains troubled with language in the bill that could result in “unintended consequences.”

At a committee hearing in June, Collins said, “driver’s licenses are the keys to the kingdom for terrorists bent on death and destruction, and states have a responsibility to ensure licenses are tamper-proof and issued only to people whose identity and legal status can be verified.”

However, she said, “certain language in the PASS ID Act may undermine that goal because it would not allow TSA [Transportation Security Administration] to prevent a passenger from boarding a plane, based solely on the fact that he or she did not have a compliant license.”

Unless that wording is changed, Collins told Napolitano, “I think you’re creating a situation where a security official feels he or she has no choice but to let the person board the plane.”

DHS said the final rule would require issuing the secure licenses and identification cards to more than 240 million applicants. The agency estimated that the total cost to implement the REAL ID program would total $9.9 billion.