Regs fail to quell state REAL ID Actions.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Regulations

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security finally released in March the long anticipated regulations for implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005. The move, which clarified many requirements, did little to change the response from state legislatures. Since 2005, lawmakers in 40 states have considered 100 measures both in support of and against the federal REAL ID program. As of mid-March, legislation was still pending in 35 states.

Passed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when hijackers used driver's licenses to board airplanes, REAL ID established new standards intended to improve security. The act contains minimum license and card design requirements, minimum license application procedures, verification standards for documents used to prove an applicant's identity, requirements for storing and sharing driver data among states, and fraud prevention provisions. After May 11, 2008, any driver holding a license from a state that is not complying with REAL ID will be unable to use that license for a federal purpose.

Although state legislators support efforts to secure the country from future terrorist attacks, much of their reaction to REAL ID has been negative. Since 2005, legislators in 31 states have proposed more than 60 anti-REAL ID measures. Resolutions or memorials indicating opposition to REAL ID have passed in Arizona, Idaho, Maine and Utah and are still under consideration in at least two dozen other jurisdictions.

Why are so many state lawmakers angry? Many see REAL ID as a costly, ineffective and invasive federal intrusion. States and U.S. territories issue more than 240 million driver's licenses, whose only official purpose is to show state approval to operate a motor vehicle. Because the license is so...