We’re right to be wary for REAL ID
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford decided not to request an extension of time for compliance with the federal REAL ID program. I applaud his steadfast defense of South Carolinians and their rights and their pocketbooks. REAL ID represents nothing less than a massive federal intrusion with a multi-year, multimillion-dollar price tag paid for by us in South Carolina. REAL ID promises to return our South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles to the days of multiple trips and hours-long waits.
REAL ID threatens to leave thousands of South Carolinians without the ability to drive at all. REAL ID, finally, offers no solution to security inasmuch as if federal documents were the answer, then we would have no illegal aliens in this country. Thank you, Governor, for telling the federal government to keep their national ID card.
THE COST ALONE warrants Gov. Sanford’s defiance. The SCDMV reports that, to implement Real ID, it must develop new processes and build verification systems that do not currently exist. This would require an estimated $16 million in one-time funds and $10 million in ongoing funds — $10 million dollars a year, every year, that could be spent on education, public safety or roads and bridges, but would instead be paying for a federal mandate that offers no real hope of making us any safer than we are now.
REAL ID would cost individual South Carolinians as well. The SCDMV reports that a REAL ID may cost as much as $60, as opposed to the $25 we now pay for a driver’s license. Also, our current driver’s license remains valid for 10 years, whereas a REAL ID remains valid for only eight. Anyone who needs a license for the next 40 years would spend an extra $200 for that privilege.
And the REAL ID would immediately return our SCDMV waiting rooms to the clogged mess they used to be. The process to issue a REAL ID would change considerably, compared to the way the SCDMV currently issues driver’s licenses. The SCDMV would have to take the necessary documents and verify them for authenticity and scan them into its database. These additional steps could increase the average wait time from 15 minutes to one hour, and that wait could grow to as much as two hours during peak operating times.
THE ABOVE scenario applies if you only have to go once. But suppose you do not bring the right documents. When a person applies for a REAL ID, they must provide proof of citizenship, a Social Security card and proof of residency. A married or divorced woman also must provide a marriage license or divorce decree to document her name change.
The customer would not leave the field office with a REAL ID that day. Instead, they would receive a temporary, noncompliant credential. The SCDMV would electronically verify all of the source documents, and the REAL ID would be mailed to the customer within two or three weeks of their office visit. But if any documents failed, then the applicant would get to start all over.
The reality remains that many, many South Carolinians will never qualify for a REAL ID. Prior to 2002, the SCDMV did not require an applicant to present a certified birth certificate, a Social Security card or proof of residency. If a person did not have a birth certificate, they could provide two of the following: a family Bible, a census report, an insurance policy more than five years old, a military DD-214, a passport, immigration papers, a visa, a baptismal record, school records, a military ID card, or a letter from the Social Security Administration. If you received your driver’s license prior to 2002 with any of the documents listed above, you are now disqualified.
THE FINAL RUSE in the REAL ID drama is the idea of an “extension.” Proponents of an extension have argued that it offers South Carolina more time to study the implications of REAL ID. The federal government sees it otherwise. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said just a few days ago, “We’re pleased that states continue to work with us toward implementation and this will be an ongoing dialogue.” She added: “An extension request is not an extension simply for more time, it’s an extension to move toward compliance. So it needs to be a good-faith request for extension.”
Gov. Sanford easily realized that REAL ID offered South Carolinians much headache and expense — and offered some the prospect of never driving again — while offering little if any guarantee of increased security. Gov. Sanford deserves our thanks for standing up to the federal government and protecting our rights.
(The writer represents South Carolina state Senate District 24, which includes Aiken County.)
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