BILL REQ. #:  S-0950.1 

Read first time 01/23/2007.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, AND TO THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, The implementation of the REAL ID Act intrudes upon the states' sovereign power to determine their own policies for identification, licensure, and credentialing of individuals residing in those states; and
     WHEREAS, One page of the 400-page 9/11 Commission Report, which did not give consideration to identification issues, prompted Congress to pass legislation that created the REAL ID Act, ignoring states' sovereignty and their right to self-governance; and
     WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act converts the state driver licensing function into federal law enforcement and national security functions that are outside the purpose and core competency of driver licensing bureaus; and
     WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act thus constitutes an unfunded mandate by the federal government to the states; and
     WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act requires states to conform their processes of issuing drivers' licenses and identification cards to federal standards by May 2008; and
     WHEREAS, A study predicts that for states to comply with the REAL ID Act, it will require all of the estimated 245 million current cardholders in the United States to renew their current identity documents in person by producing three or four identity documents, increasing processing time and doubling wait time at licensing centers; and
     WHEREAS, Identification-based security provides only limited security benefits because it can be avoided by defrauding or corrupting card issuers, and because it does not provide protection against unknown people planning or committing wrongful acts; and
     WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act will cost the states over 11 billion dollars to implement according to a recent survey of 47 state licensing authorities conducted by the National Governor's Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators; and
     WHEREAS, The use of identification-based security cannot be justified as part of a "layered" security system if the costs of the identification "layer," measured in dollars, lost privacy, and lost liberty, is greater than what security identification provides; and
     WHEREAS, The "common machine-readable technology" required by the REAL ID Act would convert state-issued drivers' licenses and identification cards into tracking devices, allowing computers to note and record people's whereabouts each time they are identified; and
     WHEREAS, A more secure and flexible system of verifying identity may be achieved by less intrusive means to the individual and to states by employing free market and private sector ingenuity; and
     WHEREAS, The requirements that states maintain databases of information about their citizens and residents and share this personal information with all other states will expose every state to the information security weaknesses of every other state and threaten the privacy of every American; and
     WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act wrongly coerces states into doing the federal government's bidding by threatening to refuse noncomplying states' citizens the privileges and immunities enjoyed by other states' citizens; and
     WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act threatens the privacy and liberty of those individuals belonging to unpopular minority groups, including racial and cultural organizations, firearm owners and collectors, faith-based and religious affiliates, political parties, and social movements; and
     WHEREAS, Congress passed the REAL ID Act without a single hearing in either House and without an up-or-down vote in either House; and
     WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act thus imposes a national identification system through the states premised upon a threat to national security, but without the benefit of public debate and discourse;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the United States Congress and the United States Department of Homeland Security suspend implementation of the REAL ID Act because it opposes Jeffersonian principles of individual liberty, free markets, and limited government.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. Bush, President of the United States, the United States Department of Homeland Security, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.