Licenses step up for state drivers

Arkansas is set to begin issuing driver’s licenses that it says have enhanced security features and will require more detailed background checks of their bearers, state officials announced Monday.

The enhanced driver’s license, a long-sought effort by the federal government to better identify illegal aliens and thwart terrorists, will be required for anyone to board a domestic airline flight and enter federal facilities beginning in October 2020, according to a news release from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

The new driver’s license is a product of uniform requirements under the Real ID Act of 2005, a federal law designed to make it more difficult to tamper with and counterfeit driver’s licenses and identification cards.

The law was created to discourage terrorists from operating in the United States. Eighteen of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks obtained driver’s licenses or identification cards that helped them rent cars and purchase airline tickets

to carry out the attacks.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said the new driver’s licenses, and ID cards for people who don’t drive, can play a major role in protecting individual identities and preventing fraud.

“From my time at the Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Security, I know the importance of accurate and secure personal identification,” Hutchinson said in the news release. “Today’s announcement means Arkansas is doing its part to improve the security of its state-issued licenses and IDs and to combat identity fraud.”

The new driver’s licenses will be available beginning Monday. Drivers will still be able to apply for a standard driver’s license, which can be used to drive a vehicle and fill all the other uses of a driver’s license except for boarding a domestic flight or entering a federal building or installation,

said Department of Finance and Administration spokesman Jake Bleed.

The department doesn’t expect it to take any longer to apply for the enhanced driver’s license than it does now, provided the applicant has the correct documents, Bleed said.

The new license will cost the same as the old licenses. Last year, the state began offering licenses valid for eight years for $40.

Residents who have a valid driver’s licenses may convert to a enhanced security driver’s license for a $10 charge. If the driver’s license is within one year of expiration, the holder may renew and convert to the enhanced license and the $40 cost will be prorated so that it expires on the holder’s birthday.

All applicants for the new driver’s licenses will have to submit proof of their legal presence in the United States, including a primary document and a secondary document or two primary documents.

Primary documents include a U.S. passport; a U.S. birth certificate; photograph documents from Homeland Security Department agencies, such as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service; a U.S. visa with a valid foreign passport; an employment authorization card or Immigration and Naturalization Service document, such as a certificate of naturalization, a resident alien card or a permanent resident card.

Secondary documents include a driver’s license or state identification card, a work or school identification badge with a photograph, a pilot’s license, a concealed handgun permit, vehicle registration, military identification, health insurance card, a tax document from the Internal Revenue Service and a marriage certificate or license, among other documents.

Applicants also will have to submit proof of having a Social Security number, such as a Social Security Administration account number card,

a W-2 form, a Form 1099 or a pay stub with the applicants name and full Social Security number. Those documents must be originals.

They also must submit proof of residency. That could be a paycheck, pay stub or earning statement listing employer and the employer’s address; a utility bill; a mobile phone bill; or an account statement from a financial institution within the past six months. An electronic version will suffice, according to the department.

But other forms of proof of residency requires original copies. They include a deed, title, mortgage or rental agreement for Arkansas property — the latter must include the landlord’s name and contact information — or a current valid homeowner, renter or motor vehicle insurance policy dated within one year.

The documents will be run through a federal database set up as part of the Real ID Act.

“The intent here is to increase the security of the license

and the person carrying it,” said Walter Anger, assistant revenue commissioner for the Finance and Administration Department. “This is a major step in protecting the identity of the individual and ensuring that licenses and ID cards are issued properly and to the right person.”

Just 25 of the state’s 135 state revenue offices will have the capabilities to process applications for the new driver’s licenses.

The cost to equip and train the staff is the reason for the limited availability, Bleed said. Demand could dictate making the new driver’s licenses available at other revenue offices, he said.

Four of those offices where people can apply for the new driver’s licenses are in Pulaski County.

Those include the central office at 1900 W. Seventh St., the southwest Little Rock office at No. 3 State Police Plaza Drive, the west Little Rock office at 9108 N. Rodney Parham Road and the Sherwood

office at 6929 John F. Kennedy Blvd.

The other offices are in Arkadelphia, Batesville, Bentonville, Conway, El Dorado, Fayetteville, Forrest City, Fort Smith East, Greenwood, Harrison, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Monticello, Mountain Home, Paragould, Russellville, Searcy, Springdale, Texarkana, West Memphis and White Hall.

Bleed said the department did not know how much it will cost to implement the Real ID Act requirements, but the state has largely relied on federal grants and has needed no increase in the Finance and Administration budget to comply with the act, he said.

The state has received at least $2 million in federal grants to develop its systems to comply with the act, according to previous news accounts.

Estimates to implement the Real ID Act nationally has been put at $11 billion.