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By
Tyler Moran
Employment Policy Director
Maine has become the first state to refuse
to comply with the REAL ID Act, a federal law enacted in May 2005 that
prevents the federal government from accepting state-issued driver’s
licenses or ID cards as identification unless they meet the act’s strict
and complex requirements by May 2008. Under these requirements,
applicants for driver’s licenses must present extensive documentary
proof of their identity, citizenship or lawful immigration status, and
residence; and the documents they present must then be verified as being
authentic.
On Jan. 25, 2007, by a unanimous vote in the
state Senate and a vote of 137 to 4 in the House, Maine’s legislature
passed a resolution declaring that Maine refuses to implement REAL ID
and that Congress should repeal the law. Official copies of the
resolution were also transmitted to President George Bush; Vice
President Richard Cheney; Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives; Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security; John
E. Baldacci, governor of Maine; and each member of the Maine
congressional delegation.
The
resolution lists as
reasons for refusing to comply with REAL ID (1) that the law creates an
unfunded mandate that would cost Maine residents approximately $185
million, (2) that its implementation will invite identity theft and
invasion of privacy, and (3) that it will impose inconveniences and
higher taxes on residents. A bill is also pending in the Maine
legislature to prevent any state funds from being appropriated for the
implementation of REAL ID.
Several other states, including Arizona,
Idaho, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New
Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming also are
considering opting out of REAL ID, placing conditions on their
participation in implementing the law, or urging Congress to repeal it.
A summary of these proposals in the form of
a chart is available on NILC’s website.
More information on REAL ID is available
from NILC’s “Immigrants & Driver’s
Licenses” webpage, at
realnightmare.org, and on the website
of the
National
Conference of State Legislatures, which features a “Countdown to
REAL ID” clock ticking off the seconds until the law’s May 11, 2008,
implementation deadline. PowerPoint presentations made during a Dec. 15
probo.net webinar by staff from NILC (“Immigrants,
Driver's Licenses and the REAL ID Act: Requirements, Implementation and
Options Available to States”), the ACLU (“The
REAL ID ACT: Implications for Privacy”), and the National Conference
of State Legislatures (“The
REAL ID Act: Requirements, Implementation Options, and Costs”) are
also available.
In addition, a thought-provoking article by
security technology expert Bruce Schneier about the security liabilities
that will be created by REAL ID, “Real
ID: Costs and Benefits,” is available in his weblog.
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