DHS Extends Deadline For State ID Compliance
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Quelling concerns that identification issued by some states would be invalid for air travel beginning on Jan. 1, 2010, the Department of Homeland Security this month extended a compliance deadline for the Real ID Act, though it is holding to its May 10, 2011, deadline for full compliance. The act requires states to issue IDs and driver’s licenses that comply with national standards. Although not expected to begin issuing such IDs by Jan. 1, 2010, states that do not materially comply with minimal standards face the possibility of federal agencies rejecting identification issued by those states. “A federal agency may not accept state driver’s licenses or identification cards for official purposes unless a state is meeting the requirements of the act,” the Real ID Act states, noting that “official purposes” include commercial air travel. “As expected, a large majority of states and territories 46 of 56 have informed DHS that they will not be able to meet the Dec. 31 Real ID material compliance deadline,” DHS deputy press secretary Matt Chandler said this month. “As the National Governors Association has said, the states have made tremendous progress in driver’s license security but simply cannot fulfill the requirements of Real ID.”According to the timeframe posted in the text of the Real ID Act, the Jan. 1, fake id websites 2010, deadline referred not to individual compliance to national standards on state issued identification, but rather the ability of states to comply with standards to issue such IDs. individuals born after Nov. 30, 1964, “will be required to present a Real ID if they use a State issued document for official purposes” by Dec. 1, 2014, the text of the act states. Individuals born after that date have an additional three years to present such identification. “In order to ensure that the millions of Americans traveling this holiday season are not disrupted, DHS is extending the Dec. 31 Real ID material compliance deadline. The May 10, 2011, deadline for full compliance remains in effect, and the Department will continue to work closely with states to meet this deadline,” Chandler said. Travel Association and others have been advocating for DHS to not just delay the implementation of the Real ID Act, but scrap it altogether and move forward with the alternative Pass ID legislation, which offers more flexibility to states. Still, fake id nyc USTA president and CEO Roger Dow in a statement this month applauded the extension. In a transcript of her testimony before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee released on Dec. 2, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also encouraged the passage of Pass ID as an alternative to Real ID. The former governor of Arizona said, “Congress passed Real ID as a footnote in an appropriations bill and that did not have the benefit of hearings nor consultation with the states, which caused vast revolt among the states, of which Arizona was one, and so we went and worked with the governors on a bipartisan basis to fix Real ID, and that gave birth to a piece of legislation known as Pass ID. It has been through committee. It’s been marked up. It is ready for floor action. It solves the governors’ problems with Real ID.” Pass ID hardly has been a priority in Congress and did not move fast enough to beat early deadlines for Real ID. Pass ID would meet recommendations issued by the 9/11 Commission, Napolitano said during testimony, and address “issues that were legitimately raised by the states,” adding, “and so I would prefer to urge the Senate to move to floor action and move Pass ID through so we can get it over to the House. I think it could go very quickly over there, and we could solve this issue, as opposed to extension after extension, fake ids which not only doesn’t deal with the 9/11 Commission recommendation, but it’s just another year of uncertainty.”
