By Calvin Biesecker
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday issued its final regulations for establishing minimum security standards states must comply with for their drivers’ licenses and identification cards, and said the new rule will reduce implementation costs by nearly 75 percent from earlier estimates.
With the final regulations posted, states can get going with putting in place the processes and technologies they need to become compliant with the REAL ID requirements.
“We’ve seen almost flat growth rates in the drivers’ license market since the REAL ID Act was first passed in 2005, in large part because states have been afraid to spend money on system upgrades for fear that they’d build the wrong solution,” Jeremy Grant, an analyst with the Stanford Group, told Defense Daily. “The release of the REAL ID regulation is very good for states and for the companies that provide drivers’ license systems, as states can finally cast off the shackles that have been holding them back from major drivers’ license system upgrades over the last two years.”
Digimarc [DMRC] is the clear market leader in supplying states with drivers’ license systems followed by L-1 Identity Solutions [ID].
By this May states must begin the process of complying with the requirements of REAL ID and have obtained agreement from DHS to that effect. At that time, United States citizens and persons in the country legally will need to have REAL ID compliant licenses, or at least have licenses from states that are in the process of becoming compliant, to get access into a federal facility, board a commercial aircraft, and enter nuclear power plants.
While no state is required to issue REAL ID compliant drivers’ licenses, citizens of states that aren’t compliant will need other forms of documentation to access federal buildings and commercial planes. Other forms of identification such as a U.S. passport, a DHS NEXUS card or the State Department’s forthcoming Pass Card, can be used as alternative identification documents to the secure drivers’ licenses.
The initial date for compliance under REAL ID is Dec. 31, 2009. At that point certain minimum requirements must be met in order to get a second extension for becoming compliant. All participating states must be compliant with REAL ID by May 2011.
Compliance does not mean that all citizens and legal residents will have new drivers’ licenses by the 2009 and 2011 deadlines. What it means is that states must meet the certain minimum, uniform standards for the security of their license systems, such as a secure issuance process, information and security features that must be incorporated into each card, proof of the identity and citizenship or legal status of an applicant, and verification of the source documents provided by an applicant. Most states already meet most of the minimum data elements required for a secure license, DHS said.
To improve flexibility in the implementation of the secure drivers’ licenses, and ultimately help drive down costs, DHS is focusing enrollment based on age groups that pose more risk. The end result is that persons born on or after Dec. 1, 1964 will need a REAL ID compliant license by Dec. 1, 2014, while those born prior to Dec. 1, 1964, and have until Dec. 1, 2017 to get the secure license. DHS says this reduces costs and congestion at Motor Vehicle Departments by spreading enrollment out over a greater period of time.
DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff said REAL ID targets three groups: terrorists; illegal aliens; and persons engaged in identity theft.
To ease the burden on states, DHS is contributing toward the costs of implementing REAL ID. Chertoff said that $80 million is being offered in direct grants and another $280 million is available in general funding under the Homeland Security Grant Program. Stanford Group analyst Grant said this money should help get compliance programs going.
Various groups representing the states applauded the new requirements, saying they reflect many of their concerns that were voiced after the proposed rule was released last March. The also like the fact that estimated implementation costs have been pared from a range of between $11 billion to $14.6 billion down to about $3.9 billion.
However, they note the estimated costs are still well above the amount of funding that has been appropriated to assist states with REAL ID.
“Still, the fact remains that the [Bush] administration has not asked Congress to fund state costs, and Congress has only provided states $90 million,” according to a joint statement from the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. “State legislators have to balance budgets and make difficult choices among many competing priorities. These regulations are federal standards and deserve federal funds.”