The Senate has unanimously passed a memorial objecting to the federal Real ID Act of 2005, adding to the growing number of local voices opposed to what is described as an intrusive law that creates a national identification card.
That the measure was overwhelmingly approved reflected a growing discontent with the federal act.
The author of SM1003 appeared a little surprised — and pleased — that his measure was given unanimous approval by those present during deliberations on Feb. 19.
Sen. Ron Gould, R-3, said in fact, he could not recall any of his bills not encountering any opposition when put to a vote.
“I think it just shows really that both sides of the political spectrum are concerned with the Real ID Act,” he said.
Gould said states that have passed or have pending legislation have two major concerns.
One issue is privacy; the other is money.
Noting that the Department of Homeland Security had indicated in the past that it likes the concept of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, Gould said using it on an ID would make people more susceptible to identity theft.
The security code could be broken and the data mined, he said.
“If it has biometric information on it, not only do I mine your Social Security Number and residence address, I also mine either your retinal scan or fingerprint with a modified PDA. It’s a security risk,” Gould said.
“It’s (also) an $11-billion unfunded mandate on the states and about half of the states are passing bills saying they oppose the Real ID Act,” he added.
Gould said he would have not raised objections if the idea is instead trained on plugging holes of the nation’s borders. Gould
Gould: IDs give ‘false’ sense of security
But a national ID gives people “a false sense of security, when actually the IDs would be the least secure because of the fact that it’s a shared database with all the states,” he said.
Last month Maine had begun what was dubbed as the revolt against Real ID.
Besides Arizona, several other states have expressed opposition to Real ID, including Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Missouri, Massachusetts, Georgia and Hawaii.
Gould, one of the Legislature’s most conservative members, acknowledged Feb. 21 that his measures are usually divisive.
But he pointed out that memorials — because they usually carry no real weight — do not usually get divisive votes.
“It’s essentially a postcard to the federal government,” Gould said. “I thought it was an important one to do.”
The Gould memorial reads in part:
“Some of the intended privacy requirements of the REAL ID Act, such as the use of common machine-readable technology and state maintenance of a database that can be shared with the United States and agencies of other states, may actually make it more likely that a federally required driver license or state identification card, or the information about the bearer on which the license or card is based, will be stolen, sold or otherwise used for purposes that were never intended.”
The federal mandate, the memorial added, appears to be an attempt to “commandeer the political machinery of the states and to require them to be agents of the federal government, in violation of the principles of federalism.”