Voluntary REAL ID driver's licenses OK'd

Posted: Thursday, April 2, 2015 10:42 pm | Updated: 10:42 pm, Thu Apr 2, 2015.
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services

PHOENIX — It looks like Arizonans won’t have to drive instead of fly to San Diego next year.

State lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation requiring the Department of Transportation to create a new type of driver’s license for those who want to use it to board commercial aircraft. Gov. Doug Ducey already has said he is in support of the plan.

HB 2609 is an outgrowth of the Real ID Act, enacted by Congress and the Bush administration following the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon by terrorists who hijacked aircraft. That law directed the Department of Homeland Security to come up with requirements for secure documents for everything from getting into certain federal buildings to boarding commercial aircraft.

The agency’s answer was to say that it will recognize driver’s licenses only from states that follow certain procedures. These range from the issuing agency verifying the documents offered by the applicant to prove identity to ensuring the license itself cannot be altered.

But state lawmakers in 2008, reacting to concerns about a national ID card, specifically barred ADOT from creating a Real ID-compliant license.

That hasn’t been an issue — until now. Homeland Security officials are saying they could start rejecting Arizona licenses to get past airport security as early as January.

That would leave Arizonans with only one realistic alternative: a passport. But that costs $110 plus a $25 application fee; expedited consideration adds another $60.

This legislation makes acquiring a Real ID-compliant license optional, with applicants having to pay an additional $15 fee.

None of that convinced foes.

“I have a ‘real ID’ in my wallet: An Arizona driver’s license issued by the state of Arizona secretary of state,” argued Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley.

It’s actually issued by the Department of Transportation. But Finchem said that kind of identification “issued by our sovereign state,” should be enough.

Rep. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, said he understands the need. But he worried about where this kind of requirement to board an aircraft might lead.

“It’s appalling that we actually have to get a travel license to go from state to state,” he said.

“What’s next, going into a bus station?” Borrelli continued. “A train station?”

But Rep. Rick Gray, R-Sun City, chided colleagues for ignoring the needs of their constituents.

“If we’ve got citizens in Arizona — and we do — who want the right to have a driver’s license that meets the requirement of the federal regulation ... we need to pass a law to do that,” he said.

Gray said he agrees with those who say that Arizona is a “sovereign state.”

“But we are in the United States,” he said. “There are federal regulations that we deal with all the time.”

http://www.yumasun.com/news/voluntar...cc65ae2ab.html