Hailing an effort by a diverse group of state legislators to add Illinois to the list of states "in full revolt against REAL ID," the ACLU of Illinois appeared at a news conference in Chicago today with State Representative Karen Yarbrough and other legislators to support House Joint Resolution 27. The measure, scheduled to be heard this Wednesday by the House Judiciary I - Civil Law - Committee, calls on Congress to repeal the REAL ID Act of 2005, a measure that creates an unworkable system nationalizing the collection and sharing of data from the driver's license agencies of all 50 states and the territories. Congress adopted REAL ID in 2005 - without substantive committee hearings or debate - as part of legislation providing emergency funding for the Iraq War and Tsunami relief in South Asia.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security finally issued draft regulations designed to implement the REAL ID Act, regulations that required the Department to grant all states and territories an 18-month extension for implementation - moving the target date of implementation back from May 2008 to December 2009.

"Delaying implementation of REAL ID does not fix the fundamental flaws in the law," said Edwin C. Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy at the news conference. "We commend Representative Yarbrough and the other supporters of H.J. Res. 27 for working to keep Illinoisans' personal data from being dumped into a massive national database that can be accessed by the federal government, other state and territorial agencies, merchants and hackers. We hope the Illinois congressional delegation will heed the views of the state legislature on this critical issue."

REAL ID calls for a uniform system of collecting and storing data used to issue driver's license and state identification cards. Under the legislation, the federal government and all state and territorial governments would be able to access information stored about Illinois drivers and identification card holders. In addition, the agencies responsible for issuing driver's licenses must verify all documents presented for application for a license or identification card. This means that consumers would no longer enjoy the current benefit of being able to apply and receive a license on the same day. Rather, if REAL ID becomes reality, a customer would be compelled to stand in line to apply, wait for one's documents to be verified, and then return to complete the process for receiving a driver's license or identification card.

The regulations issued last week, however, fall far short of making it clear how this process will work. The ACLU of Illinois noted, for example, that the regulations contemplate a nationwide database of birth certificates so those documents could easily be verified. No such system occurs currently and no one has a plan for developing such a database.

"REAL ID is a flawed idea that cannot be fixed," added the ACLU's Yohnka. "It is time to repeal this law and focus on measures that actually enhance our national security."