Minnesota Passes Veto-Proof Anti-Real ID Bill

Last night, Minnesota joined 18 other states in rejecting Real ID, the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt at a national ID card. More states are jumping on the anti-Real ID bandwagon. Noam Biale, Advocacy Coordinator for our Technology and Liberty Project, writes in DailyKos :

[A]nti-Real ID legislation continues to move in the states. The Louisiana House of Representatives is considering a bill today that was passed out of committee unanimously and would opt the state out of the of program. The Alaska legislature sent a bill barring the state from spending any money to implement Real ID to Gov. Sarah Palin’s desk last month. And the state of Arizona is poised to pass a bill similar to Minnesota’s, and send it to Gov. Janet Napolitano this week.

The Real ID Act never received any Congressional oversight or debate before it was passed in 2005 as a rider to a military spending and tsunami relief bill. Noam points out that a Senate bill to repeal Real ID is supported by both Republicans and Democrats – just as anti-Real ID measures in the states receive broad bipartisan support. It’s time DHS took a good, long look at what it’s trying to accomplish with this multi-billion dollar mistake.