Push on for compliance with Real ID regulation
WASHINGTON — Motor vehicle agencies across the country are stepping up messaging to residents in hopes they will get their Real ID before May, when full implementation of a federal law is set to take effect at U.S. airports.
Some jurisdictions have made significant progress in rolling out the Real ID-compliant card, generally identifiable by a star in the upperright corner. But the most recent federal data indicates many states are lagging and not close to ready.
Beginning May 3, the only driver’s licenses or state-issued ID that will be accepted for boarding commercial flights will be those that meet the federal Real ID requirements. That date — barring another extension — would mark the end of a 14- year delay but could prompt confusion among noncompliant air travelers, who would be turned away from boarding domestic aircraft.
The law, intended to prevent identity fraud, sets minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and IDs. Applicants are required to provide proof of identity and legal U.S. residency to obtain the new ID. Enforcement at federal buildings and military bases began in 2014.
DMVs nationwide are allowing residents to renew licenses as early as a year before they expire. Others are launching campaigns alerting residents of the May deadline — sending electronic and paper messages to those whose licenses or IDs aren’t compliant — while partnering with airports and the Transportation Security Administration to increase signage.
Some travel groups worry that the Real ID compliance rate is too low and that, come May 3, hundreds of thousands of Americans who use their state-issued ID could be turned away from airport checkpoints. The TSA accepts other forms of identification, such as a U.S. passport or military ID, but none is as ubiquitous as a driver’s license.
As of May this year, 137 million Real IDs had been issued, representing 49% of state-issued IDs in circulation, according to federal data obtained through the American Travel Association. At the time, the compliance rate had been increasing about 0.5 percentage points each month.
“We really do want Real ID to succeed, but 50% uptake is really not a success. It’s a recipe for disaster,” said Tori Emerson Barnes, the travel association’s executive vice president for policy. “They are going to really have to look hard at further delay if they don’t improve the numbers over the next few months. We just simply can’t have 50% of the population showing up at the airport and being turned away.”
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Real ID implementation, did not respond to multiple requests for comment and data about the compliance rate. TSA referred questions to DHS.
Congress passed the Real ID Act after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Eighteen of the 19 hijackers had obtained state IDs, some fraudulently.
The law originally was to take effect in 2008, but the program has been delayed repeatedly. Some states were critical of the law when it passed, calling it an unfunded mandate, but their pleas to DHS and Congress for modifications were unsuccessful.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have committed to complying with Real ID requirements, federal officials say. DHS has extended the implementation multiple times, most recently postponing an Oct. 1, 2021, deadline to May 3 of next year to give states more time amid pandemic-related lags.