Driver's Licenses

Reject REAL ID

Background:

The REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, sets onerous and costly new federal standards for issuing drivers’ licenses and state identification cards that would not only threaten New Mexico’s public safety but would also subject all of New Mexico’s residents to participating in a national ID card system—a menacing proposition.
The REAL ID Act’s standards, if implemented, would require New Mexico’s Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) to:

• Redesign and reissue all drivers’ licenses.
  
  
• Investigate and verify the authenticity of all identity and residency documents with emitting agencies.
  
  
• Store copies and electronic images of all such documents for lengthy periods of time.
  
  
• Redesign the state’s database of New Mexican residents’ personal information and make it accessible to motor vehicle division workers throughout the country.
  
  
• Require proof of an applicant’s citizenship or lawful immigration status as a prerequisite to the issuance of a driver’s license or ID card.

Despite widespread opposition from over 600 organizations, Congress passed the REAL ID Act without sufficient deliberation and without a hearing by any congressional committee. Its implementation is opposed by the National Governors’ Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Locally, the New Mexico Municipal League of local elected officials and the Santa Fe City Council have passed resolutions opposing the implementation of the Act in New Mexico and calling on Congress to repeal it.

Burdens and problems of the REAL ID Act:

• REAL ID is an unfunded mandate and a burden to New Mexicans. According to the New Mexico MVD, the cost of fully implementing the federal standards in this state would exceed $37 million in the first five years. No federal appropriation has been made for states to cover these costs. Moreover, the federal standards would impose great inconvenience on New Mexicans – e.g., increased license fees, multiple visits to MVD to obtain or renew a license, longer waiting periods, no more renewals by mail, etc.
  
  
• REAL ID makes us vulnerable to identity theft. The federal standards require MVD to enter all licensees’ personal information into a national database accessible to all MVD workers in the country, making us extremely vulnerable to identity theft.
  
  
• REAL ID threatens public safety. Under the Act, undocumented immigrants would be denied drivers’ licenses. If implemented, this would reverse the benefits achieved by a 2003 New Mexico law that has enabled approximately 35,000 immigrants, previously ineligible for licenses, to pass drivers’ tests, take required DWI courses, register their cars, purchase auto insurance, and follow the same licensing procedures as all other residents of New Mexico. Moreover, these immigrant drivers would no longer have a state-issued positive form of identification, a dangerous proposition for law enforcement officials who utilize licenses to keep track of traffic and criminal violations and to identify people who are suspects in criminal investigations.
  
  
• REAL ID is bad for business. In compliance with the Act, MVD would have to verify all documents that prove identity and residency with the emitting agencies, including public utility companies, employers, and public/private service and health agencies. Responding to these requests would place costly burdens on these businesses and agencies.

Options and Solutions:

The REAL ID Act is not mandatory for the states. The State Legislature has until May of 2008 to decide if and how it will implement the Act.
The only consequence of completely ignoring it is that state licenses and ID cards could not be used to board airplanes, enter military bases or for other “federal purposes.” Passports can be used, however, for all these purposes and are actually easier and more convenient to obtain than drivers’ licenses that meet the standards of the Act.

We should encourage our legislators to keep the driver’s license statutes as they are and to reject REAL ID. Senator Michael Sanchez and Representative Ken Martínez are sponsoring a joint memorial decrying REAL ID and calling on Congress to repeal it. By simply ignoring the Act, New Mexico could save itself all of the expense and burden of compliance while at the same time imposing on its citizens no greater burden than would be imposed by full compliance.

For more information, please call:

Somos Un Pueblo Unido in Santa Fe at (505) 424-7832.