Reply
Wed 19 Jul, 2006 06:47 pm
Would you pay $100 for a drivers' license?
Associated Press
AUSTIN ?- Texans applying for or renewing drivers' licenses could pay much higher fees and wait in longer lines once a federal law standardizing them takes effect in 2008, a state lawmaker says.
Texas fees could jump to more than $100 from the current $24 when the federal government begins requiring states to issue uniform drivers' licenses, what many consider a de facto national identification card, said state Sen. Leticia Van De Putte, D-San Antonio.
The change also would eliminate online and mail renewals and would require renewing motorists to produce Social Security cards and birth certificates in person at Department of Public Safety offices.
Van De Putte got briefed on the new state-issued, federally approved licenses because next month she will become president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
While she supports many provisions in the anti-terrorism ID legislation Congress passed last year, she takes issue with who will pay for it.
"If the federal government wanted a national ID card, they should have passed it on the national level. We're looking at a huge unfunded mandate," Van De Putte said.
Senior DPS officials told her the changes will cost Texas an estimated $168 million in the first year and $104 million per year in subsequent years, she said.
But the $100 fee that Van De Putte said the officials told her might be necessary would raise a lot more money than that. Last year the state issued 700,000 new licenses and processed 2.6 million renewals, which at $100 each would amount to $330 million.
DPS spokeswoman Lisa Block said the agency would not confirm cost estimates because it is still analyzing them.
Texas has nearly 16 million legal drivers.
Details of how the new law will be applied are still being worked out by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
States can opt out of the program but would face dire consequences, such as having their residents barred from using their identification cards to board airline flights.
Critics say the new law will infringe on privacy rights without making the country more secure.
The new law "will make it a little harder for terrorists to get documents, but it won't make it impossible," said Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank. "It'll give states information on the law-abiding, but it doesn't protect against the lawbreaker."
From 2005:
Real ID Act guarantees a National ID card is on the way
12 May 2005
DOJgov.net newswire
On May 10th, a small group of Senators stood up to criticize legislation that was carefully tucked into a military appropriations bill. This is standard operating procedure for hiding "Pork Barrel" or in this case, controversial legislation for a uniform national standard driver's license, in unrelated but popular legislation.
For all intent and purposes, it was an attempt at controlling illegal immigration while being "politically correct." By curbing the privacy rights of all Americans, nobody could accuse the government of being anti illegal immigrant. And it meant that to vote against this uniform and highly intrusive national driver's license standard would mark a Senator as voting against support for our troops.
This hidden legislation backed a Congressional call for standardizing driver's licenses by 2008 to comply with federal "antiterrorist" standards. It allowed Federal employees to reject licenses or identity cards that didn't comply and deny American citizens access to everything from airplanes to national parks and even the court system.
In an almost empty Senate chamber, ten senators claimed that the Real ID Act was dangerous and poorly conceived. They objected to the Conference Committees improperly adding the act to a military appropriations bill. They objected to the fact that the Real ID Act was never open to debate.
Then, on May 11th and along with all other US Senators, they unanimously voted to create what many feel is a big step towards an electronically invasive National ID card and make the Real ID Act the law of the land. Any state that opts out will automatically make non-persons out of its citizens. They will probably not be able to fly or take a train.
In the future, you will need the following to obtain a driver's license:
1. You will have to provide four approved proofs of identity to renew your driver's license.
2. Your driver's license will include an increasing amount of private information, including a possible tracking device. These global tracking devices are already planned for implantation in new passports.
3. You can expect your personal information placed in a central database clearinghouse, available to corrupt or intrusive government employees and creative hackers.
National ID Cards are not new in the world. Failure to show one on demand results in arrest and possible imprisonment.
House approves a de facto National ID Card
dojgov.net newswire 11 Feb 2005
In apparent recognition that Federal agencies are incapable of targeting or tracking terrorists and illegal aliens, on Thursday 10 Feb 2005, The U.S. House of Representatives approved a sweeping set of rules aimed at forcing states to issue all adults federally approved electronic ID cards, including driver's licenses.
Federal employees would instructed to reject any licenses or identity cards that don't comply with government specifications. In effect, this would give the Federal Government power to completely control Americans' access to airplanes, trains, national parks, federal courthouses and other areas controlled by the federal government.
The bill was approved by a 261-161 vote.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace