from the link -
Pennsylvanians won’t be able to use their state IDs to enter military bases, nuclear power plants and other federal facilities, Homeland Security officials said in an Oct. 11 letter to PennDOT. The restriction does not apply to people attempting to obtain federal benefits.
If the federal requirements remain unmet in January 2018, the restrictions will expand to prohibit Pennsylvanians from using their driver’s licenses to board commercial aircraft.
The disagreement between federal and state officials goes back to 2005, when Congress passed the REAL ID Act, which established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission.
In 2012, Pennsylvania lawmakers passed a law that prohibited the governor and PennDOT from participating in the REAL ID program, citing among other concerns an estimated $140 million cost.
PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards in a statement Thursday said her agency has always focused on improving driver’s license security.
Still, the Homeland Security letter states Pennsylvania IDs fail to meet seven REAL ID requirements, including DHS-approved markings, prohibiting remote renewals and requiring in-person reissuance when personally indentifiable information changes.
“In large measure, we are out of compliance for limited technical reasons and because existing state law bars us from fully complying,” Richards said. “While we understand the frustration with the cost of this unfunded mandate, our failure to comply because of the prohibition of current law will be a burden for Pennsylvanians.”
Gov. Tom Wolf’s Press Secretary Jeffrey Sheridan in a statement said “REAL ID requirements amount to an unfunded and unnecessary federal mandate, but if we do not comply, and currently we are prohibited from doing so by act of the Legislature, the people of Pennsylvania will be unfairly burdened.”
“We are hopeful to work with the Legislature regarding this matter,” he said.
State House and Senate leaders could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
PennDOT has issued just shy of 9 million driver’s licenses, plus 1.4 million non-driver’s license ID cards, spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said.
good luck at the airports.
Good news actually. REAL ID requires you to prove you are a citizen or are here legally in order to get a drivers license.
“The restriction does not apply to people attempting to obtain federal benefits.”
Why should it apply to somebody who wants to get something for free, when it already applies to somebody trying to clear his name in a trial and not go to prison?
“...prohibiting remote renewals...”
Years ago when I was stationed overseas both my wife and my driver’s licenses expired. We were able to get them renewed via mail, without a photo, under the requirement that a new license, with photo, be obtained when we returned to the state. I wonder what military overseas do now when their state licenses expire?
Your old license is punched and you are given a temporary renewal to keep with the old license to use until your new license arrives.
I've heard all sorts of rumors about what the new license contains-gps chips mainly, but they look pretty routine to me. They're a different color now and I guess that they've put a bunch of anti counterfeiting stuff in them-holograms and such but nothing that you'd look at and say "what in the he11..?"
What did surprise me was that they made a mistake on some of the personal info and they actually took the time to correct their records rather than just trashing the whole thing and starting over.
Maybe they do want me to have that particular license.