PennDOT rolling out new driver’s licenses

You know that picture you hate on your driver’s license? Well, it’s about to get bigger. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on Tuesday released the design of the next generation of state driver’s licenses featuring a larger photograph, new bar codes, variations in lamination and laser embedding, and the elimination of the magnetic strip from the back.

The new cards are intended to be harder to alter or counterfeit.

But despite the security changes, the licenses won’t meet the federal REAL ID Act requirements needed to get through airport screenings. That update is still a few years away.

Pennsylvanians’ use of driver’s licenses at airport security will continue to be contingent on the federal government’s extension of the deadline.

The new state licenses, which are required for drivers and widely used for identification purposes, are being phased into circulation in Harrisburg and will be produced at driver’s license centers statewide by October.

PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said the changes are part of the agency’s effort “to enhance and protect the integrity of the driver license and identification card issuance process.”

Yet even though PennDOT and its Massachusetts-based contractor, MorphoTrust USA, spent 22 months on the planning, design and deployment of the new licenses, the IDs are lacking in the eyes of the federal government.

They don’t bear the embedded gold star required by the Department of Homeland Security.

Congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005, mandating certain authentication and security

procedures for driver’s licenses in all states. People using state licenses that not have the gold star will not be permitted through airport security. They also will be denied access to federal buildings, military bases and nuclear power plants unless they have a federally accepted ID, such as a passport, as an alternate.

In 2012, the Pennsylvania Legislature balked at following the REAL ID Act and then-Gov. Tom Corbett signed legislation prohibiting the state from doing so. The reason most often cited by legislators here and in 15 other states was that it amounted to an unfunded federal mandate costing millions to implement and maintain.

Another criticism from groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, was that the REAL ID Act was the first step toward a national identification card. Andy Hoover, legislative director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said it would create a national database that could be “a honeypot for identity thieves."

“A security breach anywhere in the country will expose the personal information of license holders everywhere,” Mr. Hoover said in 2012.

This year, however, the Legislature endorsed the REAL ID Act, and Gov. Tom Wolf signed the necessary legislation May 26.

“They did change their minds because they don’t want the citizens of Pennsylvania to run into any access issues boarding planes or entering federal facilities,” said PennDOT spokeswoman Alexis Campbell.

The federal government currently has an Oct. 10 deadline for compliance with the REAL ID Act, but Ms. Campbell said Pennsylvania and other states are hoping to get another extension. She said Pennsylvania licenses will be compliant in 2019.

Another change PennDOT announced Tuesday is the inclusion of photographs on learner’s permits, a move Ms. Campbell said will ensure that the holder of the permit is the individual taking the driver’s test.

Dan Majors: dmajors@post-gazette.com and 412-263-1456.