New Hampshire Vote On Quitting Real ID Shows Act's Troubles
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
Statement of Barry Steinhardt Director, ACLU Technology and Liberty Project
NEW YORK -- Last night, the New Hampshire Senate narrowly defeated a measure
that would have rejected the Real ID Act. Passage would have seriously
disrupted the unified national identity card system that proponents are hoping
to create. Nevertheless, while the Real ID Act continues to cling to life,
having dodged a bullet in the Granite State, the Act is still deeply troubled
and will remain so despite having survived its latest crisis.
It is amazing
how this little piece of legislation in tiny New Hampshire became a national
(indeed, international) story. It passed the state House of
Representatives, and came within 3 votes of passing the Senate, even though Real
ID's backers in Washington brought a lot of pressure to bear on state
senators. And this in one of the only two states that were actually
getting any money to comply with Real ID (New Hampshire is receiving a $3
million grant - a fraction of its likely costs to comply with the Act).
The pro-freedom forces have been blocked for now, but Real ID continues to
have a lot of powerful opponents in New Hampshire, and the door is still open
for future action. Opponents of Real ID from across the political spectrum
will take heart from how close a broad coalition came to defeating Real ID in
New Hampshire; there are of course 49 other states in the Union, any of which
could kill this legislation. Many people - from gun owners and privacy advocates
to state officials and religious groups - take a very dim view of Real ID,
whether because of its frightening implications for privacy, the
multi-billion-dollar unfunded mandates it will impose on the states, or the
ill-considered and impractical nature of its requirements (as illustrated by the
survey of state motor vehicle administrators that was made public in
January).
Real ID's funeral has been averted for the moment, but it remains
an unnatural creation of behind-the-scenes maneuvering in Washington, which was
never even put up for an up-or-down vote by Congress, and despite the narrow
loss, New Hampshire's legislature has clearly shown just how troubled this
measure truly is.
More information about Real ID is online at: www.realnightmare.org