Posted on 10/15/2016 5:21:26 AM PDT by chopperman
Federal agencies will begin rejecting Pennsylvania driver's licenses and photo IDs as official forms of identification on Jan. 30 unless the state comes into compliance with a national law that sets standards for state-issued IDs.
(Excerpt) Read more at triblive.com ...
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.
Oklahoma is one of the 5 other states. The six states should plow up the roads and prevent access to military bases and power plants by ground and tell the Feds “When you get real, so will we”. regards - red
Good news actually. REAL ID requires you to prove you are a citizen or are here legally in order to get a drivers license.
I read something somewhere about ....a mark on your hand or in your forehead or the number of his name... Sounds like this may be a slow move in that direction.
And yet they’ll still accept a forged PDF as an actual valid BC from an Indonesian muslim as ID!
You can still vote, with no id.
I know several illegals who have Californicate drivers licenses and some have been issued SS cards. Mostly chinese and they do not speak any english.
Virtually all the chinese buffets and spas have illegals working there. They come over on tourist visas and stay.
Oh, but at least you don’t even need that to vote.
Real IDs are issued to illegal immigrants.
Illegal immigrants have no documents to prove who they are.
Tell me again how this helps.
This is merely a way to force a national ID on citizens.
Homeland Security knows this.
We are the focus of homeland Security, as terrorists from Syria move here almost at will with the complicit help of our president.
good luck at the federal courthouse. No juries, no trials, gridlock!
airports are grandfathered until 2018
note until 1915, Americans didn’t need passports to travel
Disenfranchised citizens... Feds say they’ll stop accepting them as proof of identity but you don’t need to prove your identity to vote in many places.
Ping
January 30 - ten days after the new President takes office. Hope he has the executive order ready to go on this. Or can he just pull the plug on DHS in general and take this requirement with it?
“good luck at the federal courthouse. No juries, no trials, gridlock!”
Welcome to the United States. The government here doesn’t put itself out. It’s all on you. Here’s how that would work, case by case:
- You are called for jury duty, or you are a witness in a trial: “Failed To Appear”. warrant issued for your arrest.
- You are a defendant or plaintiff or counsel in a trial: “Failed to Appear”, judge rules against you.
“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?
If you are not permitted in a courthouse, prosecutors can’t empanel a jury. They can issue all the warrants they want, it won’t matter.
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