Editorial: Don’t burden the states

Monday, Jan. 29, 2007 | 7:27 a.m.

By an overwhelming margin, Congress passed the "Real ID Act" in May 2005 - without appropriating any money to pay for it. Now, with the deadline drawing nearer for complying with the law, Nevada and other states are sounding alarm bells.

The law, inspired by a 9/11 Commission recommendation, requires that state driver's licenses comply with federally approved security measures. The main intent is to prevent terrorists from easily obtaining identification that will enable them to open bank accounts, board airplanes, obtain housing, drive and carry out other activities while plotting attacks.

With each state having different methods for issuing driver's licenses (with some being very lax), and with driver's licenses often accepted as the basis for issuing other forms of ID, there is a legitimate need for tighter standards that are uniform throughout the country.

But with the law set to take effect in May 2008, state officials in Nevada and all over the country are saying their budgets cannot support the extra work and staff it will require.

As people's licenses come up for renewal, they will all have to show up at Department of Motor Vehicles offices in person - as opposed to using the mail or Internet - and present their Social Security cards, birth certificates and other documentation proving their legal residency. All of their information will have to be verified. And the licenses will have to be redesigned to contain coding that can be read by scanners.

Gov. Jim Gibbons, who as a congressman voted yes on the law, has included $30 million in his 2007-2009 budget to pay for extra DMV staff, extended office hours and more equipment.

But this should not be a state expense. The federal government is requiring these changes to state licenses. Eventually, without the federally approved licenses, or national ID cards as they are sometimes called, people will not be able to board planes or even apply for federal benefits. With the federal government attaching such importance to them, it should also attach the billions of dollars that it will cost states to produce them.

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