Opposition threatens Real ID program

CARSON CITY -- Nevada motorists might not be given another chance to get a high-security driver's license.

A legislative vote scheduled Monday on whether to allow the state Department of Motor Vehicles to adopt regulations to make Real ID-compliant driver's licenses optional was delayed until Friday.

But there were indications that the program might be scratched entirely.

Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, who canceled the meeting of the Legislative Committee on Regulations, said he would not be surprised if the regulation sought by the DMV is killed because of the clear opposition of some legislators.

Legislative Counsel Brenda Erdoes said she doesn't even know yet whether it will be placed on Friday's Legislative Commission agenda.

Conklin said the hearing was canceled because citizens at recent DMV hearings were left with too many unanswered questions.

"My personal position is I do not want Advanced Secure Issuance (Real ID) mandated on the people of Nevada," Conklin said. "If it is going to be forced on us by the federal government, I think we should wait until the last possible moment."

Such diverse groups as the Independent American Party and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada testified at DMV hearings against the proposed regulation.

"Real ID is an assault on our liberties, is a de facto national ID card and is un-American," said Janine Hansen, an Independent American Party leader. "Wait times at the DMV have tripled since the governor's emergency order implementing Real ID."

If the regulation is killed, it would be a personal defeat for Gov. Jim Gibbons, who issued a 120-day regulation mandating Real ID licenses. That regulation expired last month.

Gibbons, who is seeking re-election, issued the temporary regulation though the Legislature rejected a Real ID license measure during the 2009 session. In November, Conklin's committee refused to act on the regulation.

Under the federal Real ID act of 2005, Congress mandated that states take steps to ensure the identity of drivers as a way to stop terrorists from getting legitimate licenses. Gibbons, who was in Congress at the time, voted for the bill .

Though residents from states that did not comply were supposed to be prevented from boarding airlines for interstate flights, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security delayed implementation repeatedly in the wake of public opposition.

Now the states do not have to comply before May 2011.

The Nevada DMV cannot issue any more new Real ID licenses until the commission approves an enabling regulation.

Without that regulation, DMV spokesman Tom Jacobs said his agency will have no choice but to go back to issuing licenses as it did before Jan. 1 when Gibbons' temporary regulation went into effect.

Residents who are renewing an existing license can show their old licenses to secure a new one. But as with the Real ID requirements, new drivers, with people who are changing their names, must still show some identification to prove their identities.

Before the temporary regulation expired, 46,000 people secured Real ID licenses, including 21,000 who were not required to do so.

Federal law requires people born after December 1964 to get a Real ID-compliant license before December 2014. Older people can wait until December 2017.

"If the federal government is going to mandate a national ID, then why put the states out?" Conklin asked, referring to the price tag the states have to pay. "Make everyone have a passport, especially since there is not enough money to cover the cost. A lot of people consider this as an intrusion."

The DMV estimated it cost $2 million to set up the Real ID license system , of which $750,000 was state money. It would cost $410,000 to switch to a system in which Real ID is optional.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.