Real ID driver's licenses to be optional

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Real ID driver's licenses to be optional

 

 

 

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 11:06:08 -0700

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It

is already optional in Washington

state.

They call it the enhanced license. They can read it as you drive by

checkpoints on the border, etc. without having to stop you. Some fools

are signing up for it!

 

 

Real ID driver's

licenses to be optional

 

Nevadans at meeting cheer news that license would no longer be

mandatory

 

By ED VOGEL

LAS VEGAS

REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU

 

Customers wait in line Monday at the Department of Motor Vehicles

office on West Flamingo

Road.

The head of the DMV proposed at a legislative meeting that the

high-security

Real ID driver's license soon become optional for Nevada drivers.

Duane Prokop/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

 

CARSON CITY

--

A new high-security driver's license would soon become optional under a

plan

proposed by the DMV's director and endorsed by lawmakers on Monday.

 

Nevadans attending the meeting of a legislative panel cheered the news

that the

controversial license would no longer be mandatory -- at least until

such a

time as the federal government says otherwise.

 

Opponents have described the Real ID program, which Congress passed as

a

safeguard against terrorism, as unnecessarily intrusive into people's

lives.

 

Department of Motor Vehicles Director Edgar Roberts told the

Legislative

Committee on Regulations that it will cost $410,000 to reverse course.

 

It had cost $2 million to implement the Real ID license program in Nevada, of

which

$750,000 was state money.

 

Roberts said 46,000 drivers have obtained the Real ID licenses since

January,

when Gov. Jim Gibbons, by executive order, issued a 120-day regulation

that

made Nevada

one of only nine states complying with the federal act.

 

Gibbons issued the regulation, even though legislators last year killed

a bill

to require the new licenses. The temporary regulation, which expires at

the end

of April, has appeared to contribute to longer waits at the DMV, as

applicants

often don't bring in all the required documents, causing delays.

 

To receive the high-security "gold star" licenses, drivers must show

a birth certificate, a Social Security card and proof of residency

through

utility or other bills.

 

The DMV also is required to do background checks on DMV workers who

have access

to drivers' information, check whether drivers are legal residents and

retain

facial images of drivers.

 

Congress passed the Real ID Act in 2005 as a way to develop a national

driver's

license that could not be easily duplicated by terrorists.

 

Members of the public attending the meeting teleconferenced in Carson City and Las Vegas

cheered loudly when Roberts told the committee that acquiring the new

license

no longer would be necessary.

 

Those applauding the end of the Real ID regulation included

representatives of

liberal and conservative groups.

 

"The governor did this by executive order after you opposed it," John

Wagner, chairman of the Independent American Party of Nevada, said to

lawmakers. "If we're going to have government by executive order, then

why

do we need the Legislature?"

 

Rebecca Gasca, public advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union,

said 16

states have refused to adopt the Real ID requirements.

 

She said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not issued a

final ruling

on what states will be required to do.

 

Earlier, the federal agency threatened to prevent people from states

without

Real ID-compliant licenses from flying on airplanes. But in December,

it

postponed until March 2011 a final decision on what action it will take

if

states don't follow the federal law.

 

When she was governor of Arizona,

Homeland

Security Secretary Janet Napolitano signed a bill prohibiting Real ID

licenses in her state.

 

The DMV must now quickly hold a new hearing on its regulation to make

the Real

ID license optional. A date and place for the hearing have not been

set,

although it probably will be Friday. The legislative committee is then

to take

up the proposal on April 28.

 

Under the temporary regulation, new Nevada

drivers and those changing their names or addresses were required to

get the

real ID licenses. People born after Dec. 1, 1964, were not required to

get the

new type of license before December 2014.

 

Assemblyman Marcus Conklin and Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford,

both

D-Las Vegas, made Roberts promise to explain during the hearing that

people

getting Nevada

licenses for the first time and those changing their addresses or last

names

can obtain non-Real ID licenses.

 

"I expect you to pull this (Real ID regulation) and work from the new

one," Conklin said. "That is my proposal."

 

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel (AT) reviewjournal (DOT) com

or

775-687-3901.