Some state officials give national ID system a cool reception
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http://www.dailymail.com/story/News/+/2006121926/Some+state+officials+give+national+ID+system+a+cool+reception
Some state officials give national ID system a cool reception
by Jake Stump
Daily Mail Staff
Some West Virginians, including officials at the state Division of
Motor Vehicles, hope Congress will reassess -- and perhaps repeal --
legislation it passed that establishes a national ID system by 2008.
The Real ID Act of 2005 is intended to deter terrorism and illegal
immigration, but many deem the program unnecessary, costly and
annoying. Some have gone as far to correlate it with the mark of the
beast.
The legislation would establish national standards for state-issued
driver's licenses and non-driver's identification cards.
Here's the dilemma for residents: You'll need one of these new cards
to board an airplane, open a bank account or enter a federal building.
"It sounds like Big Brother," said Kerry Causworth, outside the DMV
office in Kanawha City. "The government should be able to crack down
on terrorists without idiotic measures like these."
Causworth had taken a friend to the DMV office to get a license
renewal. One of the perks of the current DMV is getting your license
right there after a 10-minute wait.
That would change with Real ID, as it could take weeks to produce a
single identification card. They would likely be mailed to the
cardholder or picked up at a particular DMV office.
"People like getting their licenses whenever they come in," said
Patricia Walton of Charleston. "They don't like waiting for things. I
really hope they don't do this. What an inconvenience it would be."
Real ID would also put a major dent in states' coffers. The West Virginia DMV estimates it would cost at least $60 million to implement
the new system.
And it looks like each state will be responsible for footing its own
bill.
"We hope it doesn't cost that much," said Steve Dale, assistant to the
DMV commissioner. "Seriously, we hope we're wrong. That is a
tremendous expense and the need for highway construction is tremendous
as well.
"We have a new Congress coming on board in January and hopefully
they'll revisit this."
The Real ID Act originated as a standalone House bill in January 2005.
It passed 261 to 161, but became inactive. It was then tacked onto a
military spending bill by its author, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.,
and passed unanimously. It became a law in May 2005.
Some controversial bills are attached to military spending measures to
bolster their chances of passing.
In the initial vote, Reps. Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall, both
D-W.Va., opposed the Real ID Act. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.,
voted in favor of it from the beginning.
Mollohan believes the next Congress will offer relief to states and
residents up in arms over the initiative.
"The fact that the Real ID measure had to be tucked into a
supplemental appropriations bill for tsunami relief and the war on
terror in order to secure passage offers some insight into its
popularity as a stand-alone measure," Mollohan told the Daily Mail on
Monday. "I voted against it when it was brought up for a vote on its
own because of its excessive cost to states and privacy issues."
Mollohan said the Department of Homeland Security needs to negotiate
more reasonable and cost-effective guidelines for the legislation.
Advocacy groups from all sides of the political spectrum have opposed
Real ID. The American Civil Liberties Union and various religious and
gun rights groups have spoken out against the measure.
Earlier this year, a group of Christian conservatives met with DMV
officials and aides of Gov. Joe Manchin to protest the ID program.
The new ID cards will contain the same information as current driver's
licenses -- a person's name, date of birth, sex, ID number, address
and signature.
But the cards might come in black-and-white, instead of color, and be
printed on polycarbonate material.
"It's an expensive material," said Dale, of the DMV. "Everything is
entirely digital right now. But we're looking at a different kind of
machine than we have now to do the new cards. We have two new machines
at the Kanawha City office that produce the driver's licenses, but
they'd be obsolete once the new system goes into effect."
Dale said the state's current driver's licenses contain three layers
of security -- overt, covert and confidential. Some of those features
include the holograms and barcode on the license, which prevent
duplication.
Dale hopes states receive some sort of indication soon from the
Department of Homeland Security so they can better prepare for what's
coming in 2008. The federal agency is responsible for issuing the
criteria for the licenses.
State Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, who heads the state Senate
Transportation Committee, said legislators will likely take it up as a
policy issue.
"We have 1.8 million people here and that's going to be a monumental
task," Unger said. "We'll be working with the DMV to find a way to
roll this out so it's not disruptive."
Right now, no one's sure how long residents will have before they must
convert to the new ID system or what types of documentation they must
present.
Contact writer Jake Stump at jakestump@dailymail.com or 348-4842.
