| For Immediate Release January 1, 2007 |
Contact: Alexa Moutevelis 202-467-5318 |
Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today denounced the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) final REAL ID regulations.
Passed quietly in May 2005, the REAL ID Act established strict and costly federal minimum standards for state-issued drivers’ licenses, even though most states had already improved their methods of verifying and securing IDs. DHS originally estimated the total cost of implementing the proposed regulations would be $23 billion over 10 years, but revised that figure to $9.9 billion on January 11. In January 2007, Maine became the first state in the nation to demand repeal of the law and 17 others have followed since.
The legislation implemented, for the first time, a set of federal minimum standards for authenticating and securing driver’s licenses. The new system places a heavy implementation and cost burden on state and local governments, especially departments of motor vehicles, as well as taxpayers and drivers. States will now have to verify birth certificates, federal immigration documents, and Social Security numbers with the appropriate federal departments, build a database to store and secure individuals’ identification documents, and train personnel to use the new system. Fees and taxes will have to be increased to cover whatever costs are not paid for by the federal government.
The bill establishes strict and costly federal minimum standards for states’ issuance of drivers’ licenses, even though most states had already improved their methods of verifying and securing driver’s licenses. It may also be a substantial and hidden tax increase for all Americans.
Congress passed the legislation as an unfunded mandate; that is, without specifying any precise amount to be allocated to the states to help meet the new federal standards. However, to ensure that all states would comply with the standards without outright trampling on the 10th Amendment, Congress stipulated that a state would not receive any future federal funds if it did not follow the minimum federal standards for updating licenses. Furthermore, any identification document produced by a state that does not meet the standards will not be recognized as a federal form of identification, which, among other uses, is needed to board commercial planes and receive Social Security benefits.
For some states, bringing their driver’s licenses systems up to date with minimum security necessities will be a costly endeavor; adding further requirements such as developing a new database to store information will be technologically challenging and monetarily burdensome. Ultimately, taxpayers will be saddled with the additional costs by paying more for their driver’s licenses or be subject to tax increases to help offset the additional expenditures.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.