Oklahoma clearly made known its intention to not comply with the Real ID Act last year, it is nevertheless taking advantage of a grant of more time to comply. As a result, state driver's licenses will continue to be accepted for federal purposes until December 31, 2009. Driver's licenses issued by states which do not have a waiver will not be valid for air travel or to enter federal buildings starting May 11, 2008. People from non-compliance states would have to present alternative identification or be subject to secondary screening or questioning by security officials
On February 15, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requesting a time extension. DHS issued a letter on February 19, granting the extension. According to a spokesman for the governor, Henry believed the pending federal sanctions would have caused a hardship on Oklahomans, and sought and received the extension from the federal government to avoid those hardships. Since an extension imposes no legal obligation, states can bow out of Real ID at any time without penalty.
Last year, Senate Bill 464 was unanimously passed by the Oklahoma Legislature and signed by Gov. Brad Henry. The legislation says "the state of Oklahoma shall not participate in the implementation of the Real ID Act. The Department of Public Safety is hereby directed not to implement the provisions of the Real ID Act..."
In addition to Oklahoma, 16 other states Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee and Washington passed legislation or resolutions against the REAL ID Act. While Oklahoma has been one of the most staunchly anti-Real ID states, other states that have criticized the law have also asked for extensions. Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Oregon, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Washington are among the states that have requested extensions while expressing reservations about eventual compliance. But, DHS has even handed out extensions to states that haven't asked for them. Arizona was told it would get one, and New York received an "unsolicited extension." DHS now counts only four states ( Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina) as having failed to either obtain waivers or comply with the requirement to launch a legal-presence program.
The REAL ID Act was passed by Congress to address security issues identified by the 9/11 Commission associated with obtaining drivers' licenses and government-issued identification. The 9/11 hijackers had over 30 forms of identification and 364 aliases among 19 men. Another goal is to prevent illegal immigrants from "pretending to be American citizens so they can work illegally in this country. Ironically, as a leader in fighting illegal immigration, Oklahoma has taken measures to bar illegals from receiving driver's licenses.
Under the REAL ID Act states must reissue more than 240 million driver's licenses, starting in 2010. People 50 years old and under must have REAL ID Act-compliant driver's licenses by December 1, 2014; people ages 50 and older must have REAL ID Act-compliant driver's licenses by December 1, 2017.
Civil libertarians say the REAL ID Act is a further intrusion of the federal government into citizens' lives and the erosion of privacy rights, and raise the specter of a nationwide database of personal information. The cost to the states to implement the REAL ID requirements is currently estimated $3.9 billion. DHS is offering $360 million in federal grants to assist the states in that effort.
In January, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff issued nearly 300 pages of guidelines for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards as well as standards for license-issuing facilities. The guidelines require physical security features on the licenses, including machine-readable data, to deter forgery. Steps would be required to verify the identity of driver's license applicants, including checks of birth certificates, Social Security numbers and citizenship status. Driver's license-issuing agencies must capture digital images of driver identification documents, retain them in electronic storage in a transferable format for 10 years. Driver's license-issuing agencies must photograph each person applying for a license, store it electronically and in a transferable format.
While most liberal groups and many Democratic politicians oppose the Real ID Act to varying degrees, conservatives are split on the issue. Among the 2008 presidential candidates, John McCain strongly supports the Real ID Act, Barack Obama opposes it, while Hillary Clinton wants the law to be reviewed.
