As deadline looms, Missouri Senate takes up Real ID bills

This time next year, Missourians may not be able to use their driver’s license to board a commercial airplane or set foot in certain federal buildings.

To do either, they’d need a passport.

That threat has state lawmakers rushing to get into compliance with the federal Real ID Act, a 2005 law passed by Congress and signed by then-President George W. Bush that set minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses.

On Thursday, a Missouri Senate committee held a hearing on two bills that would put Missouri in compliance with the law, and the committee chairman vowed to approve the bills next week.

But opposition could still sink the idea and leave Missouri in limbo as the federal deadline to get in compliance looms.

“This would be a ridiculous burden to put on the public,” said state Sen. Ryan Silvey, a Kansas City Republican sponsoring Real ID legislation.

Standing in the way of Silvey’s bill are long-held fears that complying with the federal law could result in violations of citizens’ privacy rights.

“My concern is privacy and federal overreach,” said state Sen. Will Kraus, a Lee’s Summit Republican.

Congress approved the Real ID Act in 2005, following a recommendation from the commission formed to study the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The 9/11 Commission said the country would be safer if there were minimum standards for the government-issued forms of identification, such as driver’s licenses, that are required to enter federal buildings or board commercial airplanes.

Among the requirements that Missouri is not currently meeting: Documents used to obtain a driver’s license, such as a birth certificate or Social Security card, must be scanned and stored in a database. Each state must agree to share its database of licensed drivers with other states.

Kansas driver’s licenses are already in compliance. Missouri is one of nine states that aren’t compliant and face the Jan. 22, 2018, deadline; the others are Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington.

Privacy concerns inspired Missouri lawmakers to pass a law in 2009 prohibiting the state from complying with the Real ID Act. Four years later, when it was discovered the Missouri Department of Revenue was scanning and storing documents, lawmakers passed another bill specifically outlawing the practice.

Those same privacy concerns continue to stoke opposition today.

“It’s inconsistent that just a couple years ago the General Assembly was so outraged that the Department of Revenue was keeping our documents in a database that we passed a bill to stop it,” Kraus said. “Now we’re talking about passing a bill to allow it.”

Silvey said his bill is a compromise.

Missourians who are wary of the Real ID law would be able to get a driver’s license that doesn’t align with all of the federal regulations. Those who have no qualms with the standards would receive a different license.

Drivers in Vermont, for example, already have this option.

“Let individual Missourians decide whether they want to participate,” Silvey said.

The Department of Revenue says it will take two years to get fully into compliance with the Real ID Act if Missouri lawmakers pass Silvey’s bill or a similar one. Silvey said if Missouri lawmakers approve the legislation, the state would receive an extension from the federal government allowing residents more time to get a new license and still board commercial airlines.

“You won’t have to rush out and get a new license before January if we get an extension,” Silvey said.

Testifying in support of Silvey’s bill were representatives from the state’s two major airports: Kansas City International Airport and Lambert–St. Louis International Airport. Also supporting the bill Thursday were the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and trade groups representing contractors and truck drivers.

There was no testimony in opposition.

Kraus, who sponsored the 2013 bill banning the state from scanning and storing license documents, said he would push for lawmakers to slow down and wait to see how President Donald Trump’s administration handles enforcement of the Real ID Act. He will push to hold off on moving the bill forward until after the legislative spring break in March.

He also thinks that if enough states push back on the requirements, the federal government won’t follow through on the threat of banning those with non-compliant driver’s licenses from boarding a plane.

“I’m tired of federal overreach,” he said. “Sometimes it’s important for the states to push back.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 11:23 AM with the headline "As deadline looms, Missouri Senate takes up Real ID bills."