Return of the REAL ID

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Return of the REAL ID

July 9, 2009 - by Isabelle Cutting


In the form of an amendment to the 2005 military spending bill, Congress slipped the REAL ID Act into law with hardly any debate or deliberation. Since then, 23 States have passed legislation blocking its implementation.

Now there is a recurrent bill in Congress, the PASS ID Act, which with bi-partisan support, suggests bringing back the REAL ID Act from dormancy, albeit while attempting to address many of the privacy concerns previously held by critics. As a result, an unusually wide range of civil rights groups from both the right and left are arguing, that although the PASS ID Act is an improvement upon its predecessor, efforts to amend the 2005 law would be insufficient and merely another attempt to put in place a National ID.

S.1261, Providing for Additional Security in States’ Identification Act of 2009 or the PASS ID Act, sets out minimum requirements for State driver’s licenses and ID cards regarding what data is included and what documentation must be presented when receiving such ID cards. Such provisions in turn, seek to repeal title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005 for the (typically ambiguous) purposes of better protecting the “security, confidentiality, and integrity of personally identifiable information collected by States when issuing driver’s licenses and identification documents.”

"In the form of an amendment to the 2005 military spending bill, Congress slipped the REAL ID Act into law with hardly any debate or deliberation."

I don't think you really represent what went on regarding REAL ID. 100 votes in the Senate and nearly 400 in the House is not an indication that this bill was not thoroughly considered by each voting Member. When taken in the context of Capitol Hill in 2005 what we now concern ourselves with in the bill would have been seen as necessary despite privacy concerns.

Rest of the article is good but let's not see conspiracy in every corner, eh?

Yes, looking back my language is too general. The REAL ID act did not pass surreptitiously through all of Congress. There was plenty of debate surrounding the legislation, both as a stand-alone bill and a rider to H.R.1268, in the House. However I have not found any indication that such debate occurred in the upper chamber.

The REAL ID act, initially H.R.418, was accompanied by two resolutions providing for debate and further consideration of the bill’s content. Both of these resolutions passed and the bill proceeded to pass (by a vote of 261-161) in a period of two days. When referred to the Senate, however, the bill fizzled out while in the Committee on the Judiciary.

A month later, pursuant to H.Res.51, providing for further consideration on the military spending bill (H.R.1268), the text of the REAL ID Act was appended as Division B to the end of this legislation. While the Senate then did indeed consider and vote on H.R.1268, it did not do so specifically for the REAL ID Act…