* From a recent Tribune editorial…

In the next few months, air travelers from Illinois likely will no longer be able to flash their driver’s licenses as proof of identity to get through security and board a plane. Those cards don’t meet stringent federal standards under the REAL ID Act.

Travelers with Illinois licenses will need a passport to pass through security, even on domestic flights. This won’t go into effect until spring or summer. But as of Jan. 10, Illinois residents won’t be able to use a driver’s license to gain entry to federal buildings and U.S. military bases that require identification.

Cue the grumbling from Illinois residents.

And cue the whining from Illinois officials, who say they just need a little more time and money and legislative cooperation to get this done.

Please. […]

“We’ll be meeting the legislature [this] year to get their sense of how doable this is,” Druker said.

It had better be doable. It was doable in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 … you get the idea. But state pols dragged their feet and hoped the feds would — what? Get distracted?

* No, they assumed the feds would do what they just did. Back down…

Feds Announce No Changes to Security Procedures at Airports Until January 22, 2018
Illinois DLs and IDs remain acceptable forms of identification to board commercial airplanes for minimum of two years

The Department of Homeland Security provided an update today on the REAL ID Act, announcing that there will be no security changes at airports for at least two years, with any changes beginning no sooner than January 22, 2018.

As a result, Illinois driver’s licenses and ID cards will continue to be accepted as primary forms of identification to board commercial airplanes for domestic travel.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s office will continue to work with DHS and the Illinois General Assembly on the Real ID Act.

Henry Haupt
Deputy Press Secretary
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White

By the way, federal building access is on a facility by facility basis. According to Henry, you can still use your driver’s license at places like the Rock Island Armory, Scott Air Force Base, etc.

* And there are some very real concerns about this federal law. From the Illinois Policy Institute’s news service…

Ed Yohnka with the ACLU of Illinois says Illinois and other large states like California and New York are being quote “bullied” into compliance by the federal government to get what the ACLU amounts to a national ID card. Despite the federal government being wary of calling the national mandate a national ID, Yohnka says REAL ID is a national ID because it links all states’ ID databases together, something Yohnka says is not secure.

“The idea that somehow we will be more secure and our data will be protected when this goes national doesn’t really pass the test of what we see each and every day in the media and each and every day in the public in terms of our own data.”

One example Yohnka provided is someone possibly leaving a laptop with access to the database at a coffee shop. And, he pointed out, a nationally linked system will only be as strong as the weakest state’s security.

Find yourself living paycheck-to-paycheck? If REAL ID is implemented it may mean trading in a week’s worth of lunch to get the ID that complies with federal standards. Yohnka says getting a REAL ID will be labor intensive and not something applicants could pick up almost instantly, as is done now with the state’s current ID.

“You would have to make several trips to validate who you were. You’d have to produce several source documents, including an original birth certificate.”

Yohnka says at the end of the process of providing all the documents the applicant would then go home and wait for the ID card to arrive in the mail. Meanwhile Yohnka says for people who are struggling financially REAL ID will be even more burdensome.

“Do you have to chose between renewing your driver’s license and eating lunch for a week? These are real questions for people who live at the margins and unfortunately from all the data we see there are far too many folks who are living paycheck-to-paycheck.”

Yohnka estimates if REAL ID is implemented in Illinois, as the federal government is pushing the state towards, it could put the price of a driver’s license to more than $100, whereas it now costs $30. The Illinois Secretary of State’s office couldn’t say how much it will cost individuals but estimates overall implementation of the ID will cost taxpayers $60 million dollars, and there’s little indication of what the yearly costs thereafter would be.