News & Commentary

- Standardized data elements and security features on the IDs
- A "machine readable zone" that allows for the easy capture of all the data on the ID by businesses, stores, or anyone else with a reader
- Participation in the construction of a 50-state, interlinked database making all the information in each person's file available to all the other states and to the federal government
- A requirement that states verify the "issuance validity and completeness" of every document presented at motor vehicles agencies as part of an application for a Real ID card
What is the status of Real ID?
The Real ID Act has been passed by Congress and signed into law by the president. But its acceptance in the states is far from assured. The states have only three years--until 2008--after enactment to come into compliance, or their citizens' drivers' licenses will no longer be accepted for federal purposes.

As part of the process, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created regulations that spell out in more detail exactly what the states must do to make compliant IDs. In those proposed regulations, the DHS details plans that create a national ID (their specifications speak about the color of the card, the fonts permissible, etc.), are built on "vaporware"