[Publib] [alacoun] ALA Signs Onto Letter

[Diedre Conkling]

FYI   

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Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:51:52 -0400
From: "Emily Sheketoff" <esheketoff at alawash.org>
To: <alacoun at ala.org>
Cc: <alacol2 at ala.org>
Subject: [alacoun] ALA Signs Onto Letter

We signed onto this letter

 

 

Support S. AMDT. ___, the Tester Real ID De-Funding Amendment

Amendment Shifts Funds to Aid Veterans

 


We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to support S. AMDT. ___, the
Real ID de-funding amendment to S.CON.RES.70, the congressional budget
resolution for the United States Government for fiscal year 2009,
offered by Sen. John Tester (D-MT).  This amendment would shift $50
million that has been allocated for implementing the Real ID Act to the
Department of Veterans' Affairs.  This bipartisan amendment is
cosponsored by the following Senators [names to be added later]. 


States are currently engaged in a revolt against the Real ID Act.  To
date, 18 states have enacted anti-Real ID bills or resolutions, and
anti-Real ID legislation is pending in an additional 15 states.  Seven
states - Georgia, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South
Carolina and Washington - will never issue a Real ID license because
those states have enacted binding legislation prohibiting participation
in the Real ID program.  Legislators in eleven additional states
responded to the release of the final regulations by the Department of
Homeland Security ("DHS") by introducing legislation to opt out or
demand that Congress repeal the law.  Just this week, anti-Real ID
legislation was introduced in California and Idaho.

 

This failed program does not merit further funding.  In 2005, $40
million was appropriated to states for Real ID implementation.  Of that
amount, only $6 million was provided in grants, and only $3 million was
accepted by one state: Kentucky.  New Hampshire was offered federal
funding, but wisely rejected it, knowing that the acceptance of those
funds might obligate New Hampshire to spend vast additional sums raised
solely from new state taxes.  

 

Further, the funding provided by the budget provides only a small
fraction of the total funding cost for states - estimated by DHS itself
in its Final Rule regarding Real ID implementation to be at least $9.9
billion- for implementing the Real ID Act.  This is a revision of its
earlier cost estimate of $23.1 billion; our analysis indicates the
Department has relied on fuzzy math and questionable assumptions to
reach that reduced figure.  In essence, DHS simply has shifted the costs
from states to individual taxpayers and licensees to reduce costs. In
short, the $50 million allocated to Real ID in S.CON.RES.70 will not
substantially mitigate the unprecedented unfunded mandate imposed upon
state governments. 

 

Even substantial appropriations by Congress will not alleviate the
burdens of Real ID Act implementation.  The real cost of implementing
the program will be borne by individuals because it amounts to a hidden
tax increase, invades everyone's privacy, and embodies the worst
excesses of bureaucratic government.  State administrators, governors,
and advocates have been warning about the disruption and chaos that
actual implementation of Real ID will likely bring.  These new burdens
include longer wait times and service times at DMVs, as well as the time
necessary to obtain new source documents needed to get a Real ID.

 

Real ID imposes the United States' first-ever national identity card
system.  A national ID will result in a dramatic change in American
life, in which law-abiding citizens' movements are constrained by the
need for an "internal passport," while being tracked and monitored.

Finally, legal requirements to require a Real ID have already been
proposed in a host of areas, from voting to purchasing medication.  If
those requirements are enacted, the Real ID database will become a de
facto requirement for participation in American life.  Errors at the DMV
could affect an individual's ability to get a job, receive medical
benefits, vote or participate in civic life.  

 

Real ID diminishes security; it does not enhance it.  The increase in ID
theft and document fraud will also make it easier for sophisticated
criminals and terrorists to obtain the identity of another person and
pass themselves off as that person.  The aggregation of the data and the
source documents thus opens a substantial security loophole.  This
loophole is exactly contrary to the intent of the 9/11 Commission.
Because of the rigidity of the Real ID Act's language, DHS had little
flexibility to resolve this concern.  

 

For the above reasons, we urge you to support the Real ID de-funding
amendment to S.CON.RES.70.

 

Sincerely,

 

American Civil Liberties Union

 

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