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Renewing your driver's license may get a lot tougher
Author: Jon Brodkin November 15, 2006...The days of renewing your driver's license on the Internet could be over in 2008. Regulations expected to be issued at the end of this year by the Department of Homeland Security will spell out a new, stricter set of requirements governing how states may issue driver's licenses and identification cards. The regulations will be based on the Real ID Act, a bill that was passed by Congress last year and is scheduled to take effect May 11, 2008. Legislators and groups who have analyzed the bill say it will force drivers to renew licenses in person and possibly require the presentation of an original birth certificate. Proponents of the act say it will help thwart terrorists and illegal immigrants, but its requirements may affect nearly everyone. "All 245 million licensed drivers (in the country), the way the act is written, will definitely have to come back to DMV to re-enroll in the new federal licensing process," said Jason King, spokesman for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA). States will have to verify the authenticity of drivers' birth certificates and Social Security numbers with the agencies that issued the documents, King said. It will cost $11 billion over five years to implement the Real ID ACT, according to a report issued in September by the AAMVA, the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures. The report says the federal government is imposing unrealistic burdens, and urges U.S. officials to extend the compliance deadline and provide enough funding to implement the requirements. State Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, takes aim at the Real ID Act in a new opinion piece he has submitted to newspapers. More than 4.5 million holders of driver's licenses or state ID cards in Massachusetts will have to make a trip to the Registry of Motor Vehicles when they need to renew, Moore wrote. "You will not be able to renew it online," Moore wrote. "Before going to the Registry, find your original birth certificate and make sure there isn't any variation in your name (William, Will, Bill) between your birth record, Social Security card and any state you have ever held a license in....Oh, yes, and bring your checkbook. Proposed new licenses or ID cards may cost two to three times more than they do today unless the federal government puts its money where its mouth is." Homeland Security officials will issue regulations implementing the Real ID Act at the end of this year, said Joanna Gonzalez, a DHS spokeswoman. Until then, DHS officials will not say whether in-person visits to renew driver's licenses will be required. "That's something we'll find out when the regulations are coming out," said Gonzalez. Currently, Massachusetts drivers have to renew licenses once every five years. They can renew their licenses online for a fee of $40 once every 10 years -- that is, every other time they are up for renewal, said Anne L. Collins, the state registrar of motor vehicles. A Massachusetts driver cannot renew online if his or her license photo is more than nine years old. A substantial number of drivers do renew on the Internet, so requiring in-person visits may increase congestion in RMV offices, Collins said. The state currently does not require people to present a birth certificate, but those who renew in person today must present a Social Security card, she said. "The Real ID will restrict our ability to (renew licenses on the Web) and requires everyone to come in and be re-documented and reverified," Collins said. Collins said she hopes the regulations will require only one in-person renewal of a license for each driver, allowing subsequent renewals to be processed on the Internet. The newly elected Democratic majority in Congress could also change aspects of the Real ID Act. U.S. Reps. Martin Meehan, D-5th, and Ed Markey, D-7th, voted against the Real ID Act last year, aides said. "It's just another one of the punitive Republican immigration bills...that do nothing to secure our borders or fix our immigration problem," said Meehan spokeswoman Sandra Salstrom. Markey voted against the bill because he was concerned about several provisions, including one that severely limits asylum rights for refugees, said Markey spokesman Israel Klein. |