DL--Expensive logistical problem
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Home > Press Room > Documents Show Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Pessimistic on Implementation of Driver's License Law
Documents Show Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Pessimistic on Implementation of Driver's License Law
Real ID Act Poses Expensive Logistical Problems
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2006
(Philadelphia) Newly obtained documents reveal that Pennsylvania officials are concerned that federal legislation called the Real ID Act will require extensive changes to existing practices at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Those changes will be difficult to implement by the Act’s deadline and carry heavy expenses that will have to be absorbed by Pennsylvania taxpayers and license applicants. The Real ID Act, passed by Congress last year, imposes federal regulations on the design, issuance and management of state driver’s licenses –turning them, for all practical purposes, into federal identity papers.
“Civil liberties groups, conservative groups, immigration groups – we’ve all been saying that Real ID will be a real disaster and needs to be revisited by Congress,” said Larry Frankel, Legislative Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania. “These documents indicate that PennDOT officials – the people actually responsible for carrying out this ill-conceived law – also have serious problems with Real ID.”
The documents are part of a national survey of state motor vehicle officials’ views on complying with Real ID that was conducted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). The documents were first reported today by the Associated Press. A copy of Pennsylvania’s response to the survey was obtained by the ACLU.
“Pennsylvania officials are right to be concerned,” said Frankel. “Real ID not only means a national ID, but it will also mean higher taxes and fees, longer lines, repeat visits to licensing centers, bureaucratic snafus, and, for a lot of people, the inability to obtain a license. To top it off, it will do little if anything to prevent terrorism.”
Frankel noted that the national survey responses showed that the concerns expressed by Pennsylvania’s officials are broadly shared by motor vehicles administrators around the United States. For example, no state that responded to the survey seems to believe it is possible in the near future to link all the motor vehicle information databases between all states, as the statute requires. And 3 in 4 states reacted with “medium” to “high” concern to Real ID’s extensive new document-verification requirements, which they said would involve major systems changes and increased hiring – and that is assuming that AAMVA or the federal government will build electronic systems for verification.
“Last summer, Governor Rendell warned that implementing REAL ID would cost more than $100 million just to meet this new federal mandate,” said Frankel. “Fortunately, the opposition to this bill is so broad – and is becoming broader as more people figure out what it means to them and what it would cost – that there is a very good chance that we can force Congress to take it up again.”
“Congress needs to do this right and actually hold hearings, listen to all the different interests and real-world practical difficulties, and give it an up-or-down vote, none of which happened when it was rammed through last spring,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the national ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Project. “Pennsylvanians need to join with others around the country and help block this disastrous law before it’s too late.”
Pennsylvania’s response to the AAMVA survey along with other documents is online at
www.realnightmare.org.
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