According to the Homeland Security Department, 23 states are fully compliant with the Real ID Act, which was passed by Congress in 2004, and 27 states and territories have been granted extensions.
The Department of Homeland Security has given states an extra two years to comply with Federal requirements to issue driving licenses with extra safety features, meaning that residents of noncompliant states will have until January 2018 before having to use a passport or other official identification to board a domestic flight.
The extension directly concerns six states and territories that are not in compliance with the law, known as the Real ID Act of 2005. Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington State and the territory of American Samoa have not yet taken steps to satisfy government officials that the driver’s licenses they have issued carry enough security features.
New York, which is part of the larger group not yet in compliance, had been given an extension through October 2016, and like most is expected to meet the new deadline.
“Over the next two years, those states that are not Real ID compliant are strongly encouraged to meet the requirements of the law for the benefit of their residents,” Jeh C. Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement.
Some states have bitterly opposed the requirements out of privacy concerns, and more than a dozen have passed laws barring their motor vehicle departments from complying with the law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
To be compliant, a state must include anti-counterfeit technology in its driving licenses, verify an applicant’s identity and conduct background checks for employees involved in issuing driver’s licenses.
The new standards will eventually allow users’ information to be shared more easily in a national database. This has raised concerns among privacy experts, civil liberty organizations and libertarian groups that the law will lead to something like a national identification card.
The extension lifts the most immediate concern for residents of states not in compliance that their driver’s licenses will be refused by Transportation Security Administration agents at airports.
The Federal government cannot force states to adopt the new standards, but it can gain compliance in other ways. In October, it began requiring that visitors to military bases, nuclear plants and Federal facilities produce a driver’s license from a state that complies with the law, or show another form of Government ID, like a passport.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
No comments:
Post a Comment