Real ID is one of those federal mandates that is unfunded and headed our way. In 2005 Congress passed the Iraq War/Tsunami supplemental funding bill (no hearings) that contained a provision to require existing driver’s license holders will have to apply in person for new licenses in addition to document verification stuff. For example, Connecticut will have to according to the act – verify the “issuance, validity and completeness” of every identity document presented at DMV offices, including birth certificates, social security cards, utility bills, immigration documents, and any other document that is part of the application. Of course we all know that birth certificates are so easily verifiable.
There are a bunch of states that are rejecting real ID. Maine became the first state to reject Real ID in January, and other states who are considering the same type of legislation are: Arizona, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Missouri, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. Connecticut is not one of them.
But here’s the Montana Governor, Brian Schweitzer (D) explaining it:
“We’re putting up with the federal government on so many fronts, and nearly every month they come out with another hare-brained scheme … to tell us that our life is going to be better if we just buckle under on some other kind of rule or regulation. And we usually just play along for a while. We ignore ‘em for as long as we can. We try not to bring it to a head but if it comes to a head we found that it’s best to tell ‘em to go to Hell and run the state you wanna run your state.
Unfortunately this time around they’ve really got a hare-brained scheme… almost all those hijackers on 9/11 would have qualified for a Real ID.”
Click here for the link to the NPR audio clip which is about 4 minutes.
