Electronic monitoring of motorists will soon expand dramatically as states including Arizona, Michigan, Vermont and Washington as they begin to use radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in drivers' licenses. These electronic chips broadcast the identity of any card holder to any chip-reading sensor within a minimum of thirty feet. The US Department of Homeland Security is promoting the tracking projects as part of its Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

Source - Gather

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Alert From Jews For The Preservation Of Firearms Ownership
America’s Aggressive Civil Rights Organization
JPFO.org
5-12-5

On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, America became a true police state. Your U.S. senators voted — unanimously, with no discussion, and without even reading the bill — to create a national ID card.

The Real ID Act blackmails state governments into turning their drivers licenses into a draconian tool of the federal homeland security apparatus. If states refuse, their citizens lose such “privileges” as being allowed to board an airplane, enter a federal building, or apply for social security. President Bush is expected to sign the bill eagerly on Thursday.

The REAL ID ACT of 2005 implements an international biometric ID system that threatens religious freedom, privacy and personal security, states’ rights to issue identification, our nation’s sovereignty and will most certainly cause an ID theft pandemic.

Read more on the L.A.R.I. (Legislators Against Real ID) website.

Arizona became the third state last week to volunteer for a Homeland Security Department program in which it will develop a hybrid identification card that combines a state driver’s license with a U.S. border-crossing card.

DHS and state officials announced an agreement to partner in development of the “enhanced” driver’s license that is expected to meet the department’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requirements as well as align with future driver’s license requirements of the Real ID Act, DHS said in a news release.

“Arizona’s new driver’s license is poised to be one of the nation’s first to comply with Real ID requirements,” the news release said.

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(CNN) -- The Department of Homeland Security insists the Real ID Act is an essential tool to fight the war on terror, but critics say it's an overly intrusive measure that raises privacy concerns.

The actaims to weave driver's licenses and state ID cards into a sort of national identification system. States must begin issuing new federal licenses by May 11, 2008, unless they receive an extension. The cards would be mandatory for all "federal purposes." People in states that don't comply with the new rules will have to use passports for federal purposes.

The following provides requirements of the act, signed in 2005:

Who must get one?

read more

... and who's next?

The NH Senate unaminously approved a bill that bars the state from complying with the Real ID Act, and the Governor says he'll sign it. That's good news in the move to stop the implementation of Real ID.

One refrain that's clear in every rejection is that cost is a huge concern for the states. As documented here and many other places, there are other major problems with the Real ID Act. It's important to keep those other issues at the forefront of this debate in case somehow cost becomes less of a concern due to... well... to someone printing more money, I suppose!