Driver's License: Real ID, real pain

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

The federal government's "Real ID" driver's license mandate is a real pain for state governments. The required changes and resulting costs are overwhelming.

If Congress and the Bush administration deem a national identification card essential to national security, then the federal government ought to administer and pay for it, not pass the buck to the states.

Reality has demolished the initial estimate that the states would need only $100 million in federal support to initiate the program. Washington state officials, for instance, estimated that it would cost the state at least $46 million a year for the first six years. Pennsylvania estimates its costs at $85 million. Virginia officials set the price tag as high as $169 million.

The security interests are legitimate. The Sept. 11 hijackers used legitimate driver's licenses as ID. Because of the patchwork of standards and systems from state to state, the driver's license is an undependable form of identity for national security purposes. So maybe it's a mistake to try to turn it into one.

As the P-I has argued all along, if the objective is to create a national identification card, that prospect should be widely and publicly debated. If a national ID is the consensus public policy, then the federal government should administer and pay for it. Forcing the states to create one out of a crazy quilt of 50 different licensing systems serves neither national security nor fiscal reality.

Soundoff (Read 44 comments)
Tell us what's on your mind.


Should Americans be required to obtain a national identity card?
32.3% Yes, national security demands that people be able to prove they are who they say they are.	53.1% No, it's the tool of an authoritarian state and is at odds with our fundamental notions of individual liberty.
13.4% Only non-citizens should have to have national ID.	1.2% Don't know or care.
Total Votes: 508