‘Real ID’ program will increase wait time at DMV

Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 | 8:43 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Rep. Jim Gibbons cast a vote that is going to haunt Gov. Jim Gibbons to the tune of $30 million for a new anti-terrorism program that will make it more difficult to get or renew driver's licenses.

Along with the rest of the Nevada congressional delegation, Gibbons in 2005 supported a House resolution to allocate more money for the fight against terrorism.

Among other things, the resolution created a "Real ID" program that, starting in May 2008, will require people to dig up their birth certificates to get a driver's license.

Ginny Lewis, director of the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, told legislative budget committees Thursday that the program would create chaos by forcing about 400,000 drivers a year to visit DMV offices to get licenses.

Last year, about 110,000 Nevadans - more than a quarter of those who got driver's licenses - did so by mail or via the Internet.

Complying with the new federal law will increase the lines at DMV offices, which already are getting longer. In the Las Vegas offices, the average wait rose from 53 minutes in 2005 to 56 minutes last year.

Gibbons said he supports the heightened security objectives at the heart of the new law, but concedes it will have "unintended consequences." And as governor, he will have to confront those "unintended consequences" when he puts together a state budget.

Gibbons included $30 million in his 2007-09 budget for 250 new DMV positions, extended office hours and more equipment. The department now has 1,240 employees in 21 offices statewide.

Even knowing what he knows now, though, Gibbons said he would not change his vote on the resolution, which passed overwhelmingly in the House and unanimously in the Senate.

"The 'Real ID' act was designed to prevent false documentation in a new reality we live in the terms of terrorism, etc., and people getting on airplanes with false documentation," Gibbons said.

"It was designed to cure one ill but in doing so created a problem of finding the revenues to implement it. Our goal is to work with our delegation and the federal government to get the federal government to pony up the money for states to do this."

Although there was no debate over how much the program might cost when Congress approved it, Gibbons said "there were always discussions that the federal government would pick up the tab for the cost of the implementation of this project."

To date, however, federal money has not been forthcoming. And the DMV needs its $30 million in the 2007-09 state budget that must be approved in June by the Legislature.

Lewis, noting that many people will have difficulty locating their birth certificates, questioned the program's feasibility.

"I don't think a state in this country can implement it," Lewis said.