City moves forward with municipal ID program
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> City lawmakers have given their initial support to proposed legislation that would create a municipal ID program in Kingston.
During a meeting of the Common Council’s Laws and Rules Committee on Wednesday, aldermen endorsed a resolution to adopt a local law creating a municipal identification card program. The resolution must still go to the full council for approval and would also be subject to a public hearing and the support of Mayor Steve Noble.
Council Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress told the committee that city Corporation Counsel Kevin Bryant had looked into the key issue that was still outstanding, which was the question of whether anything in New York state law would require Kingston to keep authenticating documents from applications for the municipal ID. He said Bryant could find nothing requiring that.
“We are perfectly within our rights to destroy those documents as soon as we think they are no longer needed,” Scott-Childress, D-Ward 3, said. “Which we would think would be quickly after the applications are filed and approved.”
Scott-Childress added that there are some other minor things to be changed in the proposed local law, but those would be addressed by the mayor and city clerk as they look at how to specifically adapt the law to Kingston’s particular circumstances. He also said the program would have virtually no cost to the city, would benefit many different people, and “hurts absolutely no one.”
Poughkeepsie is the only city in the state beside New York City to have such a program.
According to Kingston’s proposed law, many residents of the city are unable to obtain governmentissued identification, which potentially leaves thousands of people without access to critical services,
benefits, and cultural, educational and civic opportunities. The intent of the law, it states, is “to build the
city of Kingston’s standing as a welcoming and inclusive center for all residents, without regard to a person’s race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, immigration, housing, financial status, or other marks
of distinction.”
The proposal also notes that residents’ lack of access to acceptable forms of identification can raise public safety concerns. Residents without access to bank accounts often carry large amounts of money or
store it in their homes, making them targets for crime, the proposal states. It also states that residents who cannot produce proof of identity are often reluctant to report crimes they suffer or witness. A municipal identification card would
reduce those impacts, improve public safety and enable all city residents to participate more fully in the community, the proposal states.
Additionally, the proposal states, in part, that all completed applications
and personal data gathered during the application process should be destroyed, other than the applicant’s photograph, name, and date of birth. That information would be maintained confidentially, the proposal states.