A Senate panel is scheduled to hold a hearing Monday on a bill that will set New Hampshire on a collision course with the federal government over compliance with the Real ID Act, the de facto national identification card law passed by Congress last year.
We strongly urge the Public and Municipal Affairs Committee to endorse House Bill 1582 and send it to the full Senate for passage. And Gov. John Lynch should sign it into law if it reaches his desk. New Hampshire has a great opportunity to lead other states in resisting the creeping Big Brotherism that's being passed off as antiterrorism legislation. While the act supposedly would improve national security by making it more difficult for terrorists, criminals and illegal immigrants to get licenses, it would effectively establish a national identity card system and build a massive federal database that could be used to track the movement, habits and private information of law-abiding citizens. The card would have to be presented for any interaction with federal services | such as clearing airport security, opening a bank account, or collecting Social Security benefits.
Homeland Security hasn't made a final decision, but the driver's license is the most likely form since issuing systems are already in place. The licensing process would become far more rigorous and time consuming. You'd have to present a Social Security number and several other documents with name, address and birth date to get a license, and do that each time it's renewed. State authorities would have to store those documents in a computer file.
But Congress did not appropriate nearly enough money to hire additional people to process requests or to buy the computers and equipment to create the cards. The law provides $40 million but state officials estimate it could run many times that.
Since Sept. 11, there's been much more hot air than action out of Congress to make the country safe. Debate on illegal immigration remains deadlocked. Progress on other key issues such as border security, port security, and bolstering safety of airports, transit systems and public buildings has been glacial at best. There's no indication a national ID card will do anything to prevent terrorism or slow illegal immigration. If anything, it might add to the huge market for false documents already fueled by illegal immigration.
The House bill, which got little notice when it passed last month, declares the Real ID Act "contrary and repugnant" to the New Hampshire Constitution and U.S. Constitution, and bars the Department of Safety from changing its driver-licensing procedures to comply.
The Real ID Act uses the familiar threat of withholding federal money to coerce states into complying. But there just hasn't been enough real discussion of the short- and long-term implications to allow these requirements to be forced on the states without resistance.
We urge committee members to look beyond funding to the larger issues of personal liberty at stake. Who better than the Granite State, with its long history of respect for individual rights, to become the first to rebel on this issue and set up a test before the U.S. Supreme Court?