The National Governors Association, in a letter to Congress, has disclosed that over 36 states will not meet the 2009 deadline for REAL ID. Some of the reasons for these states’ inability to hit the deadline is due to the economy which has eroded the budgets of the states and thus has eroded not just the states’ want to participate but even their ability to comply with REAL ID standards.
In fact, an additional 13 states have ignored the federal government’s laws by passing their own state laws that prohibit participation in REAL ID. These states feel that this federal mandate can be and is a violation of their residents’ rights.
The letters went as far as arguing for an alternate ID program called PASS ID, a replacement for REAL ID. This version gives the states more flexibility and time to upgrade their state driver’s licenses. PASS ID has been cleared by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in July and by the Obama Administration, but it has not come to debate on either of the chamber floors.
Read more on this Governors letter at Stateline.org.
For more on the PASS ID act, read here at Stateline.org.
Comments