The REAL ID Act of 2005,
signed into law by President George W. Bush on May 11, 2005, sets national standards for states to follow in the issuing of driver's licenses, if they want those ID documents to be valid for federal purposes, such as boarding aircraft and entering federal buildings.
The REAL ID Act of 2005 provides that the Secretary of Homeland Security (currently,
Michael Chertoff) "shall determine whether a State is meeting the requirements" of the law "based on certifications made by the State to the Secretary. Such certifications shall be made at such times and in such manner as the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation (currently,
Norman Y. Mineta), may prescribe by regulation."
The REAL ID Act of 2005 goes on to say that, in order to meet the requirements of that law, "a State shall include, at a minimum, the following information and features on each driver's license and identification card issued to a person by the State:…(9) A common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements."
Not specified in the law is what that "common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements" will be.
Among the technologies that could possibly meet that standard are
UPC bar codes,
magnetic stripes,
optical memory cards (including contactless optical memory cards),
smart cards, and
RFID tags.
American Politics Today contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and asked about the status of the process according to which one or more technologies would be selected to implement the "common machine-readable technology" provision of the REAL ID Act.
Jerrod Agen, a DHS spokesperson in its Office of Public Affairs, told Etopia Media's
American Politics Today that DHS is likely to set the standard rather than allow each state to do so, in order to assure interoperability. Mr. Agen also provided this web site with the following statement:
"Securing the homeland is our top priority at DHS. We are a nation at war, and strengthening our borders will help us better protect against those who seek to do us harm. Real ID Act addresses a critical terrorist threat by reducing the chance that those entering the U.S. illegally could use a state issued driver’s license and we will work to ensure the standards for driver’s licenses mandated by the law, including that requiring machine-readable technology, are properly defined for states. However, it is too early in the process to discuss the type of technology that may be required."
According to one of his spokespersons, Julie Soderlund, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has not publicly taken a position on either
SB 60, a bill pending in the California Legislature, by
California State Senator Gil Cedillo, that would provide driver's licenses for undocumented residents of California, or on
SB 682, a bill recently passed by the State Senate and now pending in the State Assembly, by
California State Senator Joe Simitian, that would prohibit the use of RFID tags on identification documents issued by the State of California or any government agency in the state.
The reason Governor Schwarzenegger has not yet taken a position on SB 60, according to Ms. Soderlund, is because he believes it would be "premature to move forward until the federal regulations implementing the REAL ID Act of 2005 have been completely set by the Department of Homeland Security."
