* The federal Real ID Act, passed during the hysteria of the GWOT, is coming back to bite us in the wallet. The Daily Herald’s Jake Griffin fills us in…
Secretary of State Jesse White said it will cost millions of dollars for the state to meet the requirements of the 2005 Real ID Act that sets standards for creating and processing state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards.
“Currently, we do not require birth certificates,” said White spokesman Henry Haupt. “One factor under the Real ID Act would require us to verify birth certificates through the Electronic Verification of Vital Events system. That part of the program alone we estimate would cost $15 million over a four-year period.”
White’s office already has been granted two extensions by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The second one runs out in mid-October.
But now, DHS has started enforcing compliance. The new driver’s licenses already are needed to gain access to some federal buildings, military installations and nuclear facilities. […]
White’s office has estimated the total price at $100 million to $150 million, mostly for equipment, staffing and data storage.
There’s more. Much more. Go read the whole thing.
- OneMan - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:35 am:
Wonder if the passport card counts as the ’second document’?
- walker - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:43 am:
We shall see how these are handled at the airports. Roughly half the states are not in compliance, and a portion of those are rejecting it with specific protests. We just don’t have the money right now, and of course it was an unfunded mandate.
- The Boy Blunder - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:48 am:
It’s a federal mandate!
- Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:50 am:
Is Illinois ever on the side of doing things right?
A federal passport will clearly suffice. The cries of needing to spend money for a passport will stare….three, two, ………
- Mama - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:52 am:
” it was an unfunded mandate. ” Does this mean the mandate is funded now?
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:55 am:
How about if we all just promise to check under the bed for terrorists every night? Lot cheaper and just as logical and effective.
- Downstate GOP Faithless - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:56 am:
A passport is not a difficult item to obtain…
- Carl Nyberg - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 11:58 am:
What problem was this designed to fix?
Or was this law driven by fear & opportunism?
BTW, when Illinois does upgrade, am I going to be able to travel to Mexico & Canada on my drivers license, like the good old days?
- Carl Nyberg - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:03 pm:
Passport not difficult to obtain?
My brother was born in UK. Department of State insisted on seeing the original birth certificate before granting a passport. Department of State lost my brother’s birth certificate.
It’s not like applying for a passport is something everybody should do. If you’re traveling overseas, OK. But requiring a passport for other activities is inappropriate.
Department of State is not a federal ID agency. The State Department exists to negotiate trade deals to disadvantage US workers and to apologize for things DOD & intelligence agencies do to harm people.
The State Department is very busy with these tasks.
- Gone, but not forgotten - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:04 pm:
The state won’t fix the problem so we can’t leave.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:09 pm:
Yeah. It is a Federal mandate, so we can’t cut corners. No one expected our economy to have been in the tank for the past seven years, so no one thought it would be a real problem.
I say ask for another extension until our economy rebounds.
- Cassiopeia - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:23 pm:
So they have put this off for 10 years and now it’s going to be an emergency?
- Allen Skillicorn - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:27 pm:
I’d ask my congresscritter to repeal this law or this provision, but I live in the 8th and GovTrack.us tells me my rep has been AWOL since conress took their Summer break.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:31 pm:
W.A.C.O.S
- Concerned - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:41 pm:
The phrase “unfunded madates” hould be put to rest as meaningless and simply a bs argument against whatever law the person invoking that phrase doesn’t like. All laws are “unfunded mandates” because the government doesn’t give out money to pay for you to comply. Heck, the United States Constitution is one giant unfunded mandate, as it imposes all sorts of requirements on state and local governemnts, like due process of law and the sort. So quit complaining about unfunded mandates. That is a useless term that means nothing.
- Formerly Known As... - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:45 pm:
Or, $10M a year during the decade we have had to come into compliance.
The list of areas already in compliance is diverse, from DC, Alabama and Nevada to larger states like Florida, Ohio and Georgia. This should have been done by now.
- Just Me - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:46 pm:
I find it extremely interesting that the Secretary of State kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting to implement these reforms until (SURPRISE) a Republican is Governor.
- Formerly Known As... - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:47 pm:
==The phrase “unfunded madates”==
Ask any local community. The State of Illinois has never passed an unfunded mandate and never will. /s
- Buck I - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:02 pm:
From the article: “Illinois is one of 21 States that have been granted annual extensions.”
This is one of those cases (like medical marijuana) where the states have been blowing off the “feral” government. The extensions, for the most part, weren’t asked for; to save face DHS on its own granted them to all non-compliant states and pushed their deadlines back, like feds have done with the Obamacare business mandates.
Look for this to happen again, especially with our guy in this White House.
- One day at a time - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:03 pm:
Real ID isn’t an unfunded mandate. Congress allows appropriations to FEMA, funding grants for states to implement REAL ID. Not sure if IL applied for any $’$
- One day at a time - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:10 pm:
….Actual appropriation is to Homeland Security and the FEMA administers the grant funding to the States
- Fake@GOPbot at Madison.com - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:14 pm:
So if we ask for Barak’s ID does that mean we must have a link to the Kenyan Secretary of State’s office?
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:17 pm:
==I find it extremely interesting that the Secretary of State kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting to implement these reforms until (SURPRISE) a Republican is Governor.==
Oh please. What an absolutely dopey conspiracy theory. Moron.
- Cable Line Beer Gardener - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:21 pm:
Allen Skillicorn-how does maternity leave become being AWOL?
- anon - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:23 pm:
This ID Act was passed in 2005 by a Congress controlled by Republicans and it was signed by GW. From the negative reactions, it sounds as if GOP sentiment has shifted a bit in the last decade.
- Casual Observer - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:40 pm:
I thought the President appointed Janet Napalatino (sp?) head of DHS partly because as Governor of Arizone she declined the States participation in Real-ID. Also, I believe the SOS has already received millions in federal grant money to become compliant. The $150 million sounds fishy.
- Formerly Known As... - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:43 pm:
@One day at a time
iirc, Illinois is one of the largest beneficiaries through the REAL ID Demonstration Grant and Driver’s License Security Grant programs
- lincoln's beard - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 1:51 pm:
God, I feel like this issue was beaten to death during the 2014 election for Secretary of State. If I had to sit through one more debate on the REAL ID Act, or watch one more issue ad hammering home what a problem this was, I would have screamed.
- Soccermom - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 2:00 pm:
Thanks, Cable. I share your respect for someone who throws shade at a combat veteran with a Purple Heart who takes off some time after giving birth, after years of trying to have a child.
Nice. Really nice.
- Casual Observer - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 2:02 pm:
All this money so an outside business can print your DL (out of state) and send it to you in the Mail?
- Carhartt Representative - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 2:10 pm:
Great, I thought my DMV experience last Saturday was about two hours too short.
- Mr. Moto - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 2:16 pm:
It’s not called the DMV in Illinois. Make sure to “register” as a Republican or Democrat while you are representing, Carhartt. lol
- Wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 3:02 pm:
LB, there were secretary of state debates in 2014 and you sat through them? Some sort of penance?
- One day at a time - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 3:30 pm:
@ f k a
You would think with billions in available FEMA grants since 2007 Illinois would have been in compliance by now. If Il SOS or IEMA took the grant money as demonstration project grant what happened along the way other than asking for delays to implement? Maybe there was hope that Congress would repeal the law….
- Joe Schmoe - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 3:57 pm:
==Wonder if the passport card counts as the ’second document’?==
One Man, yes it does. It has the chip embedded in it.
- Bigtwich - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 5:28 pm:
“unfunded madates”
It is not a mandate. The act just tells you what ids the feds will accept. States do not have to do anything. Of course the next phase requires a compliant id to get on airplanes.
- Judgment Day (on the road) - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 6:26 pm:
After the rolling train wreck of Obamacare, why would any bureaucrat with even an ounce of self preservation want to get close to this nightmare?
I just spent ANOTHER hour going through the base specs on this thing, and any state trying to do this is on a fool’s errand. If you do get in compliance, plan on doing it over.
We already have all the VR (Vital Records) information going to Springfield, but storage, DB stuff I just don’t know about. I do know that a lot of the locals think it’s a pain in the tail just pushing that info. up to Springfield.
But think about something. If this was (a) easy, and (b) reliable, it would have already been completed. It’s not.
Just a thought - the IL SOS better plan on opening up satellite offices at every IL airport hosting commercial airline flights. And not just 9-5, 5 days a week.
This law would in some ways turn the IL SOS into a ’smart card’ producer and distributor. Because our driver’s licenses are going to have embedded chips with our individual information, just like where credit cards are going.
If this is what IL SOS is looking at, I can see those $$$$ - they might actually be a little bit low.
This isn’t going to be good…..
the data trail that has to happen: (a) Local government pushes data to (b) State agency responsible for Birth/Death/Marriages (NEW data only; not historical) which pushes data to (c) SOS - drivers licenses, which (d) has to make digitally available to all SOS drivers license locations, which also has to be able to embed/write the data onto a chip set (remote, no less).