by Ramona du Houx
Representative
Tom Allen’s bill, H.R. 1117 — The Repeal Real ID and Identification Security
Enhancement Act — would repeal the current law’s driver’s license
requirements and establish a negotiated rulemaking process to involve all stakeholders in
establishing federal standards for driver’s licenses and personal identification
cards.
"It is not
enough merely to delay implementation of this deeply flawed law," said Rep. Allen,
referring to the measure by Maine’s U.S. Senator Collins. "Congress must replace
it with legislation that does not infringe on the privacy rights of Americans, that does
not put their personal information at risk to possible fraudulent use, and that does not
impose the burden of an unfunded financial mandate on state taxpayers."
Real ID was
rammed through Congress without proper hearings in 2005, when it was attached deliberately
to an emergency relief funds bill for Hurricane Katrina.
Civil rights
groups say that it would effectively transform driver’s licenses into national
identification cards, which will become the only acceptable form of identification for
boarding airplanes, driving cars, and entering federal buildings. With Real ID an
applicant for a driver’s license would have to provide a birth certificate and that
would then have to be verified. Mandating birth certificate verification is not even
required when you obtain a passport. Many people in Maine don’t have birth
certificates.
"A
passport or visa will be obtained much the same way as before the Sept. 11 attacks —
so while we build a high wall, we seem to have forgotten to add a gate," said
Maine’s Secretary of State Matt Dunlop.
"What if
the hospital where you were born no longer exists? Frankly, that happened to my
wife," said Congressman Allen. After discovering the hospital where Diana Allen was
born had closed, it took months of investigation to confirm that her birth certificate was
valid. "People can’t wait that long for a driver’s licensee or ID. We are
not equipped to try and verify the documents people will have to bring in. Real ID will
not work as it is written. It needs to be repealed and replaced."
"There
were a lot of threats, but in a bipartisan way, we have become the first Legislature in
the nation to say Real ID is wrong," said Sen. Libby Mitchell
Maine was the
first state to reject the law by passing a resolution on January 25, 2007. In a display of
bipartisan unity, the Maine House and Senate voted 171-4 to adopt a resolution urging
Congress to reject Real ID. State Legislatures in New Mexico, Utah, and Montana have
followed suit by passing their own resolutions. Seven other states are also considering
such legislation.
"In my
twenty years of service I don’t ever remember the Legislature standing up to the
federal government and saying, look, this is wrong, Maine refuses to cooperate. It was a
little frightening, because we were told that if Maine was the only one out there, we
wouldn’t be able to board an airplane or go into federal buildings," said State
Sen. Libby Mitchell. "There were a lot of threats, but in a bipartisan way, we have
become the first Legislature in the nation to say Real ID is wrong. It cannot be fixed,
and it needs to be repealed."
"Since
Maine passed our first-in-the Nation resolution by a huge bipartisan majority, I have
receive over a hundred e-mails form people around the country, thanking Maine for standing
up," said Maine’s House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree. "Our hope was that
Congress was listening. Congressman Allen’s bill is a sign that says Washington is
listening."
"I have
concerns that it places Americans’ privacy and security at risk. Each state must
create an electronic database of all information of every driver’s license and have
that linked to every other state’s database," said the congressman.
Essentially,
any worker at a motor vehicles office in any state could have access to Mainers’
private information in a day and age where electronic fraud is on the rise.
"A
break-in by a determined hacker or identity thief could compromise personal information of
millions of Americans. I do not trust the security of Mainers’ personal information
to a system that is available to every DMV in the country," said Allen.
"The ball is now
back in Congress’s court," said Rep. Allen. His bill repeals Real ID legislation
for driver’s licenses.
"The Maine
Legislature was concerned not only about the broken policy of the Real ID Act, but also by
the creation of vast national databases completely under the control of the federal
government," said Dunlop.
"We asked
the congressional delegation to reconsider the legislation. Tom Allen answered our call.
His legislation does not simply delay its implementation, it repeals the most erroneous
measures, while protecting Americans," said Speaker of the House Glen Cummings.
"As the legislation stands, it poses an identity threat to personal, private
information through the cracks of a national database."
Representative
Allen noted that Real ID requires states to pick up the costs for new materials and
equipment needed for cards that will meet the law’s standards and for additional
personnel, training, equipment, and office hours needed to replace every driver’s
license in the country.
"Its cost
is estimated by my office at $185 million over the first five years of
implementation," said Dunlop.
"The ball is now back in
Congress’s court," said Rep. Allen. I look forward to working with the
leadership in Washington to ensure that Congress doesn’t drop the ball."
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