on Federal Driver’s License Law
Agency Views Anti-terror Law As Expensive
and Burdensome For Taxpayers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 12, 2006
CONTACT:
Meredith Curtis, ACLU of Maryland
410-274-1671
David Rocah, Staff Attorney
410-889-8555
BALTIMORE—Newly obtained documents reveal that Maryland state officials are concerned that federal legislation called the Real ID Act will require extensive changes to existing practices at the Motor Vehicle Administration, will be extremely difficult to implement by the Act’s deadline, and will carry heavy expenses that will have to be absorbed by Maryland taxpayers and license applicants. The Act, passed by Congress last spring, imposes federal regulations on the design, issuance and management of state driver’s licenses – turning them, for all practical purposes, into federal identity papers.
“Civil liberties groups, conservative groups, immigration groups – we’ve all been saying that Real ID will be a real disaster and needs to be revisited by Congress,” said Susan Goering, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland. “These documents indicate that Maryland MVA officials – the people actually responsible for carrying out this ill-conceived law – also have serious problems with Real ID.”
The documents are part of a national survey of state motor vehicle officials’ views and preparation for complying with Real ID that was conducted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). The documents were first reported today by the Associated Press. A copy of Maryland’s response to the survey was obtained by the ACLU.
“Maryland officials are right to be concerned,” said David Rocah, a staff attorney with the affiliate. “Real ID not only means a national ID, but it will mean higher taxes and fees, longer lines, repeat visits to the MVA, bureaucratic snafus, and, for a lot of people, the inability to obtain a license. To top it off, it will do little if anything to prevent terrorism.”
Rocah noted that the national survey responses showed that the concerns expressed by Maryland officials are broadly shared by motor vehicles administrators around the United States. For example, no state that responded to the survey seems to believe it is possible in the near future to link all the motor vehicle information databases between all states, as the statute requires. And 3 in 4 states reacted with “medium” to “high” concern about Real ID’s extensive new document-verification requirements, which they said would involve major systems changes and increased hiring – and that is assuming that AAMVA or the federal government will build electronic systems for verification.
In the survey, Maryland officials wrote that “there will be significant staffing/cost impacts during the earlier years when there is a high percentage of manual verification occuring.” The MVA also noted that it was “highly unlikely” that state vital record agencies would be electronically connected for verification purposes by the effective date of the legislation. And officials predicted “significant increases in . . . customer wait time” at MVA offices as a result of the new law, as well as “staffing shortages” due to the need for new security clearances for MVA staff.
“This document spells out the daunting challenges faced by our MVA,” said Rocah. “Fortunately, the opposition to this bill is so broad – and is becoming broader as more people figure out what it would do and what it would cost – that there is a very good chance that we can force Congress to take it up again.”
“Congress needs to do this right and actually hold hearings, listen to all the different interests and real-world practical difficulties, and give it an up-or-down vote, none of which happened when it was rammed through last spring,” said Barry Steinhardt, director of the national ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Project. “Marylanders need to join with others around the country and help block this disastrous law before it’s too late.”
Maryland’s response to the AAMVA survey along with other documents is online at:
http://www.realnightmare.org