http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 6097.shtml
Originally created Sunday, March 4, 2007

Port must navigate new U.S. security measures
Florida has its own set of procedures, which the federal government says don't suffice.
By TIMOTHY J. GIBBONS, The Times-Union

Rush hour at the Jacksonville Port Authority's Blount Island terminal can be a bit of a standstill, as truck drivers wait in line to have their IDs checked before they're allowed in to drop off cargo or pick up shipments.

It's a situation that might get worse in coming months, as the federal government prepares to roll out its Transportation Worker Identification Card, an ID that would be required for everyone entering secured maritime facilities, from custom brokers to truck drivers.

The program, which has been in the works for about six years, is causing consternation across the country, with the large West Coast ports, for example, concerned about what will happen when illegal immigrants who handle many low-wage jobs there are shut out of the marketplace.

In Florida, though, additional heartburn stems from the redundancy the TWIC program will introduce for local workers: The Sunshine State has had a similar, although not identical, program in place since 2002, and has no plans to abandon it even as the federal program comes online.

The result: Workers will have to wait for the results of two sets of background checks, pay for two ID cards and wait in line while both are scanned, adding cost and complexity for thousands of Jacksonville workers.

"The first thing Georgia is going to do is say to companies 'Why don't you come up and move your business here?'" said Mike Rubin, vice president of the Florida Ports Council, a Tallahassee-based trade group. "[Jacksonville has] some competitors that would like to pick off business there. This gives them another tool to use."

Florida's desire to screen port workers - a project legislators began working on in 2001 and put into place in 2002 - was rooted not in fears of terrorism but primarily in hopes of stopping the flow of drugs through the state's 14 ports and reducing theft at the facilities.

Accordingly, the initial legislation prohibited people who had been convicted of drug- and theft-related crimes from working at ports, with no mention of crimes like treason, which under the federal TWIC regulations would bar employment.

Susan Bare shows her identification to Tracey Hatch at the security gate at the JaxPort Blount Island Marine Terminal.
BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union

Perhaps ironically, the Florida legislation has been amended over the years, trying to keep it in line with TWIC as that legislation wound its way through the federal government in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"I admire the state in their boldness in trying to get ahead of the game," said Chris Kauffmann, Jaxport's senior director of terminal operations and seaport security, who came on board at the Port Authority in part to help put the state's security mandates in place.

More crimes were added to the banned list. The ID itself changed from a card issued by individual ports to a "smartcard" containing biometric information issued by the state.

"We want to have one credential and one process," Kauffmann said. "The state was trying to stay ahead of the game so their one simple goal would be met."

But when the 469-page regulations regarding TWIC were published by the Transportation Security Administration in January, it was clear that the goal was not met.

"Some officials from the State of Florida suggested that the Florida identification cards currently in use could be replaced with the TWICs as the Florida cards expire," the government said in its explanation of how the rules were made. "State-issued identification cards will not be considered comparable to or interchangeable with TWIC, and therefore, the commenter's suggestion cannot be accepted."

Among the differences still left are the types of crimes that prohibit employment as well as how long such strictures last: On offenses such as murder, for instance, the state allows employment five years after the felon's sentence ends, while the federal regulations bar the criminal for life. But the federal program is more expansive regarding some items, like where non-credentialed people can go and the types of waivers that can be issued for those who don't meet the requirements.

There is no obsession with having a particular state card, said Bill Janes, director of the Florida Office of Drug Control, which oversees the state program, although it's important that the benefits provided by the state card stay in place. "We need one card that meets both standards," he said. "Florida has the best security standards in the nation. I don't think we should change that. We should not compromise to a lesser standard."

To that end, Florida legislators and the governor's office are continuing to work with the Transportation Security Administration to come to some sort of compromise, negotiations that Rubin, at the Ports Council, thinks might be fruitful. "I think there's too many decent people working on this," he said. "I'm cautiously optimistic."

For now, the Jacksonville Port Authority is waiting to find out if it will be one of the 10 ports that will be the first in the nation ordered to roll out the federal program, an edict that will come down around the end of this month.

What will happen then, Kauffmann said, is unclear. "We're waiting to see how they're actually going to implement it," he said. "There's really more unknowns than knowns."


timothy.gibbons@jacksonville.com