I wish them well, Natalia LOCAL HEROES: STATE LEGISLATORS FIGHT REAL ID ACT
MONTANA Rep. Brady Wiseman, D-Bozeman, has introduced a bill requiring the state government to refuse compliance with the federal Real ID Act. "The Real ID Act will invade our privacy, cause terrible red tape to get a driver's license, cost us millions, and in the end, won't protect us from terrorism. It's time to just say no." Wiseman said. The Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, requires states to participate in a national ID scheme. The Act requires Montana to spend an estimated $2.7 million, increase the bureaucracy in driver's license offices to verify citizenship, and share all of the state's data with a national database. "This unfunded mandate flies in the face of court decisions concerning the 10th Amendment to the Constitution," Wiseman said, referring to Constitutional provision that says: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." National estimates the cost of Real ID at be more than $11 billion over five years, according to statistics provided by the American Association of Motor Vehicles, the National Governors' Association, and the National Conference of State Legislatures. Legislators in a number of states, including Minnesota, California, New Hampshire and Missouri, are considering legislation like Wiseman's. Representative Jim Guest of Missouri, a Republican, shares Wiseman's concerns. Guest has introduced a bill in Missouri forbidding any agency in the Missouri government to comply with Real ID. He is compiling an extensive list of such legislation in other states. "We're working with 28 states on getting similar legislation introduced," Guest said. [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
