Louisiana is one of the states that never did cotton to the so-called Real ID.
Only about 25% of Louisiana driver's licenses bear the gold star that indicates compliance with the enhanced security measures of the Real ID Act, born a lifetime ago in response to 9/11. We now have until 2025 to fall in line, assuming the Department of Homeland Security does not extend the deadline yet again.
Regardless, when a law is left in abeyance so long, it is hard to believe the need for it is pressing.
Real ID is nevertheless a common-sense requirement. Naturally, it has run into heated opposition.
Right now, you only need a regular driver's license to board a domestic flight or enter a military base or nuclear power plant. Once Real ID comes into effect you will need either the souped-up version or some other federally recognized document, such as a passport. To get a real ID license you'll need to provide your Social Security Number, date of birth, two proofs of residence and evidence of lawful status in the U.S.A.
It is, of course, absurd that we are still wrangling over what was conceived as a way of saving American lives by forcing foreign malefactors to keep their distance. That was supposed to start happening in 2008, but recalcitrant states have secured repeated delays until Real ID licenses finally became generally available in 2020. Just over half of American drivers have one.
Objections from such states as Louisiana were twofold; it was too expensive to implement and an invasion of privacy. Everybody has evidently now found enough money to comply but suspicions that Real ID will help government stick its nose into citizens' business persist.
A distrust of government no doubt helps to guarantee American freedoms but sometimes it seems that our fear of government snoopers verges on the hysterical. If a Real ID is an invitation to Big Brother, then so is a passport. I have had one for years and, so far as I can tell, nobody in power has the slightest interest in what I do. We flatter ourselves if we imagine that sinister forces are on our tail.
The belief that government is a malign force that must be resisted, however, is an integral part of the American psyche. It has helped flood the country with firearms and convince Second Amendment fans that tyranny would result if they were ever disarmed.
The original deadline for Real ID compliance has long passed, but there is no evidence that travel has been less safe because of the constant delays, the most recent being blamed on backlogs at state driver's license offices caused by COVID-19.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas now says his department will “use this time to make the process more efficient and accessible.”
Real ID licenses come with anti-counterfeiting technology so no doubt we will all fly with more confidence if Real IDs ever are required.
Louisiana's Commissioner of Motor Vehicles Karen St. Germain was against the latest extension, which pushed the deadline back from 2023. “We would have preferred to get it done,” she said.
That admirable sense of urgency has by no means always been shared by the Legislature, which in 2008 passed legislation opting out of the Real ID requirement, a futile gesture that was duly repealed.
It's high time we got real.
Email James Gill at gill504nola@gmail.com.