Published: 02.20.2007
Arizona Senate OKs complaint about ID law
DAVID BISCOBING
Cronkite News Service
The state Senate registered dissatisfaction Monday with a federal law requiring Arizona to follow national guidelines for driver's licenses by unanimously approving a resolution complaining to Congress.
SM 1003 urges Congress to correct what it calls privacy violations and an unfunded order in the Real ID Act of 2005, which creates guidelines for driver's licenses and requires all 50 states to link their information to a database by 2008.
"It just opens up the number of possibilities for identity thieves," said Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, the sponsor. "This actually makes things less secure than what we have now."
The Real ID Act was passed to prevent terrorists and illegal immigrants from getting or creating fake identification cards.
Gould said it makes stealing information easier because identity thieves could attack one database for all states rather than individual databases for each state.
If states don't comply with the law, their residents won't be able to use driver's licenses to board airplanes, enter federal buildings and for any federal purpose.
Gould said privacy issues are his main concern.
"We are Americans and we are not citizen suspects," he said.
Arizona has more than 4 million drivers, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.
The Real ID Act requires each driver to get a license that meets the law's requirements. Gould said that will take millions of dollars away from Arizonans each year.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/42508.php