Several States in a Showdown with the Federal Government over “Big Brother ID Cards”.

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.” The Act established minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for certain purposes driver’s licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the Act’s minimum standards.  The purposes covered by the Act are: accessing Federal facilities, entering nuclear power plants, and, no sooner than 2016, boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft.

While 90% of the states in the U.S. are compliant, or have received extensions past the 2016 deadline, five state’s residents (Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maine, Pennsylvania and South Carolina) are in serious threat of not being able to enter Federal facilities in early January, and not being able to board a aircraft for a domestic flight in 2018.

If you care to learn more about this issue, check out the links below:

• Recent Google search on the issue.  Here you can learn the concerns of the holdout states.
• Homeland Security’s REAL ID and You.  Here you can learn about the issue from the Federal Government’s perspective and the current laws on the issue.

What to do?

Unless you live in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Maine, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, I’d say go on about your life.  However, if you live in one of these five states, and your state continues in a showdown with the Federal Government, you may find yourself needing a passport to board an aircraft for a domestic flight in 2018. 😕
 
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