Archive for the ‘Real ID Act’ Category
UTAH BEATS THE CHIP – HB 234 passes to Governor’s desk
Posted: March 9, 2010 in HB 234, Real ID Act, Repeal Travel IDNevada DMV ‘Real ID’ program expands to Las Vegas
Posted: February 23, 2010 in film, Gibbons, Grindhouse, Nevada, Real ID ActBTC – By all affects, the federal Real ID legislation is a paper zombie. However, the Nevada adoption of Real ID criterion is spreading the undead policy like a pandemic to its other major cities. Why? Governor Gibbon’s gave in to a knee jerk response to DHS’ call of “TERROR!!” inspired by the now diffused Underwear bomber.
Nevada DMV ‘Real ID’ program expands to Las Vegas
The Associated Press
Monday, Feb. 22, 2010 | 11:31 a.m.
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles is now requiring additional proof of address from people renewing or applying for driver’s licenses in Las Vegas.
State DMV spokesman Kevin Malone said the Advanced Secure Issuance card program was working fairly smoothly Monday at a West Flamingo Road DMV office.
Malone says applicants now need two forms of identification such as a birth certificate or Social Security card _ plus utility or phone bills, bank statements or other proof of address.
Malone says people don’t need to get the new DMV cards unless they’re renewing or changing current information.
Some states have balked at implementing the program under the federal Real ID Act.
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons enacted it as a way to prevent terrorists and illegal immigrants from obtaining ID cards.
JUST FIX IT: 20 year old citizen treated as an alien over ID
Posted: February 22, 2010 in bureaucracy, Oregon, Real ID Act
When foreign terrorists with American driver’s licenses flew airliners into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, Congress moved to tighten the requirements for obtaining official state identification.
The resulting REAL ID Act has yet to take full effect — at least half the states, including Oregon, have refused to comply with all or parts of it — but many states now require proof of citizenship or legal residence before a driver’s license can be issued.
The requirement is not unreasonable, as long as allowances are made for people who are citizens but for some reason cannot produce a birth certificate. These include older Americans born in remote areas where births were recorded haphazardly or not at all, and in some cases people born overseas to American parents.
Vanessa Driskell of Medford is an example of the second case, and her frustrating four-year battle to prove her citizenship shows the federal government needs a better way to respond to situations like hers.
The 20-year-old was born at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines while her father was stationed there. A series of circumstances beyond the family’s control, including a volcanic eruption and the base’s evacuation, meant her birth never was properly recorded.
Now, she cannot obtain a driver’s license or a passport.
What is most frustrating for Driskell is that no one in the federal bureaucracy seems able or willing to help her. :::MORE HERE:::
Nullification defined and the Real ID Act
Posted: February 19, 2010 in nullification, Real ID Act, Tenth Amendment Center, tenthersProponents of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution have been starting to rise up en masse to remind the national government of its proper constitutional role under the principles of federalism. This loose network of activists, widely referred to as the state sovereignty movement or Tenth Amendment movement, were given the derisive nickname “tenthers” by detractors, but in a witty reversal, they gladly adopted the label. The Tenth Amendment Center, the major hub online for state sovereignty activism, has even renamed its blog, “the tenther grapevine.”
Typically, the response by some of the biggest names in the news media has been to actively disparage anyone who strictly adheres to the original understanding of the U.S. Constitution. David Shuster of MSNBC proclaimed that most “people in their right-thinking mind know that the Tenth Amendment is a bunch of baloney.”
The Chief Illustration of Nullification in Action
The REAL ID Act: REAL ID was passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by then-President George W. Bush in 2005, and the resistance to it illustrates a likely scenario for state nullification. More than two dozen states have passed laws or resolutions denouncing the act or refusing to comply with it. Have the feds responded by sending in federal agents with their guns blazing? Absolutely not! Instead, the feds were all too quick to chicken out and postpone enactment of the law.
Michael Boldin, founder of the influential Tenth Amendment Center, writes, “Another indicator of victory for state-level nullification — the 2005 Real ID act was originally to be implemented in early 2008, and today, it’s still in limbo. Going on 2 years later, with more than two dozen states passing laws and resolutions denouncing or flat-out refusing to comply — and D.C. has no choice but to continue backing off…. Why? With such massive resistance among the states, the Feds just have no way to enforce it.”
REAL ID seems to have just been the start. As the nullification cat is out of the bag, states all across the nation are attempting to nullify federal laws covering such disparate topics as healthcare and firearms.
SC lawmakers bash Congress to gain voter favor
Posted: February 19, 2010 in Real ID Act, South Carolina, State Affairs, Tenth Amendment CenterCOLUMBIA, S.C. — With tax collections tanking and jobless rates at record highs, state legislators hundreds of miles from Washington have found an easy way to appeal to conservative voters: Bash the federal government.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/dont-tread-on-me-state-lawmakers-curry-conservative-favor-with-anti-washington-measures-84717827.html#ixzz0fxwGwaqY
Big brother, big government
Posted: February 12, 2010 in biometrics, Oklahoma, privacy concerns, Real ID ActBig brother could be keeping a closer eye on you
c/o ArgueWithEveryone forum
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma lawmaker is calling a piece of legislation under consideration in the U.S. Congress a “big brother, big government bill.” The Pass I.D. Act calls for standardizing driver’s licenses across the country, but State Representative Paul Wesselhoft says the bill is an invasion of privacy.
“I think it’s big brother at its worst. I know the motive behind it is to curb illegal immigration and other security issues but I think it’s a violation of our 4th Amendment,” says Rep. Wesselhoft (R-Moore).
Representative Wesselhoft believes the Pass I.D. Act could give the government unprecedented access to your personal information through your driver’s license.
The republican claims there’s a provision in the bill that calls for ID’s like licenses to carry radio frequency identification chips.
“They could embed that with a chip, they can track you and find out not only where you are, but who you are,” says Rep. Wesselhoft.
The U.S. Senator from Hawaii who is sponsoring the act says that’s just not the case.
We contacted Senator Daniel Akaka’s office; his staff told us the bill implements the 9/11 commissions requirements for driver’s license security.
In a written statement, the senator’s office says: “Neither REAL ID nor PASS ID call for computer chips of any sort. As recommended by the 9/11 commission, the existing REAL ID regulations require IDs to contain machine readable barcodes much like you would find at the supermarket. Police officers can scan the barcodes to easily verify the information printed on the front of the ID and detect fake IDs. Many states have been using the barcodes for years.”
Despite what the congressman’s office told us, Representative Wesselhoft says there is language in the bill that could allow for computer chips in driver’s licenses.
However, he does admit he has not read the bill in its entirety.
The representative is now proposing a new bill aimed at protecting Oklahoma driver’s licenses from government intrusion by preemptively disallowing state and local governments from tracking a persons location or obtaining personal information from an individuals driver’s license.
Real ID problem for Florida doctor
Posted: January 21, 2010 in fatigue, headaches, identification, politics, problems, Real ID Act, red-tape, stomach achesPORT ST. LUCIE — The lack of a middle name typed onto his birth certificate decades ago kept a Port St. Lucie doctor from getting his driver’s license renewed under the new federal rules.
Before going to the state Division of Motor Vehicle office to renew his license last week, Jordan Bromberg gathered all the paperwork now required under the stringent Real ID rules that have been in place since the start of the year.
For his primary forms of identifications he brought his U.S. passport and the Social Security card he’s had since he was 12.
Bromberg, 52, figured he’d be in and out of the state’s Port St. Lucie office quickly with a state issued Real ID.
Since the start of the year, Florida, following federal guidelines, has required more backup documentation to get a license, renew the license or change one’s name or address on the ID card. The change was part of the federal “Real ID” Act of 2005, designed to combat terrorism and fraud by toughening ID paperwork nationwide.
Instead, because Bromberg’s name didn’t match on his primary documents, his renewal application was rejected.
Both documents had Jordan Bromberg, his first and last name. His passport includes his middle name, his Social Security Card did not.
After several days making calls with the state Division of Highway and Safety, including getting assistance from the office of state Rep. Adam Fetterman, D-Port St. Lucie, Bromberg has been told he will be able to get the renewal completed. But it’s been “frustrating” and time consuming, he said.
“I went to the computer, followed everything line by line, I had every single piece of documentation that you needed,” Bromberg said. “But it was simply because whoever did my Social Security card 40 years ago didn’t type my middle name on it.”
More than 50,000 Florida Real IDs were issued in the first week in January, which is about half the number normally issued in that time period.
David Westberry, communications director with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said it’s unknown if the drop off is because of people taking the time to gather the needed paperwork. But he said there has been a learning curve in the motor vehicle offices as they work to handle each unique circumstance, while at the same time trying not to water down the rules.
“The last thing we want to do is take a system that is designed to be very secure and start making exceptions to the point where it no longer has the validity that it needs to have,” Westberry said.
Tax collectors in Indian River and Martin counties, whose offices issue driver’s licenses, knew there would be problems with the new rules. But they mostly expected them to be with women who have changed their last names to reflect marriages or divorces.
Still, they said the process has moved smoothly.
“We do what we have to do to get them renewed,” said Martin County Tax Collector Ruth Pietruszewski. “That has a such a huge impact on someone’s life if they can’t get their driver’s license.”
Compliance with Real ID will eventually be necessary to board a commercial airliner or enter a federal building.
Florida is one of the first states to enact the new law.
By Dec. 1, 2014, all drivers ages 50 and younger must have the Real ID. Those older than 50 can wait until Dec. 1, 2017 to comply.
Indian River County Tax Collector Carole Jean Jordan said the rules may become even tighter following the failed attempt by a 23-year-old suspect from Nigeria to blow up a transatlantic Northwest Airlines flight prepared to land in Detroit in December.
“I think that’s moved off the front pages because of the horrible situation in Haiti, but I think you’ll see other states having to comply,” Jordan said. “And good for Florida for complying, because you can go in a federal building or you can board an airplane with a Florida driver’s license, and once this is implemented nationally your license will be good for that while other states won’t.”
- Examples of primary identification:
- Certified U.S. birth certificate, including territories and District of Columbia
- Valid U.S. passport or passport card
- Consular report of birth abroad
- Certificate of naturalization, Form N-550 or Form N-570
- Certificate of citizenship, Form N-560 or Form N-561
- Examples of Social Security number:
- Social Security card
- W-2 form
- Paycheck
- Examples of residency proof: Deed, mortgage, monthly mortgage statement, mortgage payment booklet and/or
- Residential rental/lease agreement
- Utility bills, not more than 2 months old
- Florida voter registration card
- Florida vehicle registration or title
- A note from a parent, step-parent or legal guardian of an applicant who resides at the same address
- A letter from a homeless shelter, transitional service provider, or a half-way house verifying that the customer resides at the shelter address
- Transients — Sexual Offender/Predator/Career Offender: — FDLE Registration form completed by local sheriff’s office
To navigate the changes, visit gathergoget.com or call (850) 617-3995.