REAL ID Update

Lots of interesting things continue to happen with the REAL ID Act, America's faltering national ID law. Passed in May 2005, it would have states issue drivers' licenses and IDs to federal standards by May of next year.

The count of states rejecting implementation of this federal surveillance mandate has now reached 11, with Missouri, Georgia, and Nevada most recently joining the list of states opposed.

Interestingly, Department of Motor Vehicle bureaucrats in Nevada continue to move forward with REAL ID planning, despite the opinions of the state's legislature. According to a Federal Computer Week article posted today, "Nevada’s Department of Motor Vehicles . . . is investigating facial recognition and various methods for sharing driver’s license information with other states and the federal government." This, despite the legislature consistently cutting funding for implementation and passing legislation urging Congress to repeal REAL ID. But what's a legislature to stand in the way of bureaucrats doing what they want to do?

Activity in other states continues. In Michigan, Rep. Paul Opsommer (R-DeWitt) has introduced a resolution urging Congress to repeal REAL ID. This has earned him plaudits from Lansing State Journal columnist Derek Melot, whose recent blog post about Opsommer's bill was called "Somebody gets it." Indeed Opsommer does. (Be sure to read the comments. Someone with behind-the-scenes knowledge has offered his take.)

At the federal level, Title III of the ballyhooed immigration reform bill might as well be called REAL ID II. It would spend $300 million trying to get states to implement the REAL ID Act. (This is both too much and too little. Too much, because REAL ID shouldn’t be implemented. Too little because implementation will cost the states and people over $17 billion dollars.) Most importantly, possession of a REAL ID-compliant license or ID card will be a condition of getting federal permission for working if Title III passes as written. The Department of Homeland Security is using immigration reform to try to resurrect its failed national ID plan, described by Senate Homeland Security Chairman Lieberman as "unworkable" when it originally passed.