BY the end of April of next year, a driver’s license may no longer be sufficient identification for domestic travel in certain states.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is expected this week to decide whether to begin enforcing a decade-old law mandating that states abide by federal standards when issuing driver’s licenses.
Since the agency took over airport security in 2001, it has allowed travelers to board domestic flights with a valid US driver’s license. However, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Congress approved the Real ID Act in 2005 requiring that citizens undergo a stricter process to obtain the identification.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which runs the TSA, said it will release a specific schedule this week outlining if and when airports in noncompliant states will start refusing driver’s licenses for domestic travel. The exact date of the schedule release is unclear, although officials have said it would be issued before the end of 2015.
Thus far, 22 states have complied with the law; 19 have received an extension through October 2016 to comply; four are under review; and five are deemed noncompliant.
Although many states – including Maine, Missouri and Montana – do not participate in Real ID, they issue licenses that abide by many of the standards set by the federal government. For this reason, many states have either received extensions to comply with the law or are considered in compliance.
Should the agency decide this week to enforce the law, the earliest it would take effect would be by the end of April, as it would provide 120 days notice before enforcement begins. Additionally, it would only apply to people in a handful of states. The DHS may also decide to postpone its decision, a DHS spokeswoman said, according to CNN.
Once the law is enforced, travelers who do not possess a compliant type of identification will be required to present another type of government-approved identification, like a passport.
“This is a game of intimidation being played out between Congress and the federal government and state governments, with ordinary citizens being squeezed in the middle,” Edward Hasbrouck, a privacy advocate with the Identity Project, told The New York Times.
Some states that have resisted implementing the more stringent standards cite privacy concerns. Among requirements of the Real ID Act include that licenses be equipped with “machine readable” technology, such as a chip or magnetic strip, that will hold all personal information. Furthermore, the data should be made electronically available between states, and possibly to federal authorities.
“You create more risk when you connect databases,” Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the Times. “One vulnerability becomes multiple vulnerabilities.”
Some states have approved legislation prohibiting motor vehicle departments from following the federal law.
“The federal government has quietly gone around and clubbed states into submission,” said Warren Limmer, a Minnesota state senator and one of the authors of a 2009 state law prohibiting local officials from complying with the federal law, according to the Times. “That’s a pretty heavy club.”
Other states opposed to the law say it is too expensive, with the government estimating the program to cost $3.9 billion. Some critics cited a 2006 study that puts the price tag of enforcing the law at $11 billion throughout a five-year period.
Hasbrouck told the Times he doesn’t believe the government would risk refusing travelers who are unable to show proper identification card at airports.
“There is an impasse,” Hasbrouck told the Times. “There has been a standoff for more than a decade now. The feds have limited powers to coerce the states in this case.”
Some experts also wonder whether the agency will actually enforce the law in the coming year, given it has been unenforced for the last decade and because it could result in a number of problems for travelers. For instance, fliers may be able to board in one state with a driver’s license, but need another form of identification to return home if they fly to a noncompliant state.
States fall under the following categories:
Compliant: Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Extension received: Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia.
Noncompliant: Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Washington.
Under review: Alaska, California, New Jersey and South Carolina.
