March 09, 2007

Idaho Opts Out Of REAL ID Act

Idaho's legislature has passed House Joint Memorial 3 and rejected participation in the REAL ID Act, according to the ACLU and the Idaho legislatures bill status site. The battle wasn't a very hard fought one, either. Kudos to the politicians in Idaho who have decided that a national ID card is a bad idea on many different fronts.

On a vote of 19 to 14, the State Senate today approved House Joint Memorial 3. The State House of Representatives had approved the bill unanimously on February 20. While the bill does not require the signature of Idaho Governor Butch Otter, he has also been a vocal critic of the Real ID Act.

The bill states in part that Idaho, "shall enact no legislation nor authorize an appropriation to implement the provisions of the Real ID Act in Idaho, unless such appropriation is used exclusively for the purpose of undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the costs of implementing the Real ID Act or to mount a constitutional challenge to the act by the state Attorney General."

In other REAL ID related news the Arizona Republic is reporting that Arizona's State Senate is set to approve Senate Bill 1152 which says, in plain and easily understandable English that Arizona will not be participating in the REAL ID Act.

“Section 1. Title 28, chapter 2, article 2, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 28-336, to read:

28-33628-336. REAL ID act; implementation prohibited

This state shall not participate in the implementation of the REAL ID act of 2005. The department shall not implement the REAL ID act of 2005 and shall report to the governor and the legislature any attempt by agencies or agents of the United States DEPARTMENT of homeland security to secure the implementation of the REAL ID act of 2005 through the operations of that department.”
Sadly, no penalties are mentioned for government entities who attempt to "secure implementation of the REAL ID Act" other than reporting them to the legislature or the government. I think a lengthy prison sentence would be appropriate, perhaps busting rocks out in the desert would be a fitting penalty.

Other states are also poised to join Maine, Arizona and Idaho in striking out against the REAL ID Act.
...Georgia, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wyoming. Bills rejecting Real ID have also been introduced in Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and West Virginia, with more expected in the coming weeks.
Sadly, the state of Indiana, of which I am a resident, lacks the fortitude to tell the Federal government that they will not bow down. The Indiana legislature has had to concern themselves with pay raises, anti-gay marriage amendments, lottery privatisation and HPV vaccinations for school aged girls. Keeping the people of Indiana free of a national ID card and increasing their privacy is the farthest thing from their minds. At least there will be some states which refuse and manage to carry the ball. Indiana will (hopefully) ride their coat tails to a REAL ID free country.

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cross posted from UnCivil Defence

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Also a resident of Indiana, I found your site while looking for an update on Indiana's stance on this issue. Has there been any change since March?

2:18 PM  
Blogger Necromimetic said...

I'm in Indiana as well, I tried to get peoples attention shifted towards Real ID Last year when I first heard about it. I failed then and since it's only 8 months away I thought I would give it another try. From what I've read Indiana's on the fence but leaning towards no. Any ideas as to what we can do to get legislation passed that says Hell No!?

You can reach me at Gmail.

10:08 PM  
Blogger Dude said...

I just saw this link, which is kind of disturbing. Does this mean that Arizona rescinded on it's legislative promise not to participate in the RealID Act?

1:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In all honstly this surprises me i would have thought indiana would have refused to comply. they did it with the brady bill thats why you have to go through the nics check for a firearm even with a permet indiana decided a federal crime is of no concern of theres in the issueance of a ccw. after years of being a pain in the ass of the feds they decide to comply now? one must ask why

12:23 AM  

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