One country, one card, one hearing

The Sacramento Bee reported Sunday on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposal for states to enhance driver's licenses and identification cards to minimum standards. DHS publishes the proposed rule and a questions and answers page on their website.

The Bee writes [my emphasis]:

On Tuesday, both sides will have their say when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security holds the nation's only public hearing on the 2005 Real ID Act [P.L. 109-13] on the campus of the University of California, Davis.

State officials from throughout the nation are scheduled to attend the four-hour town hall meeting, which begins at 10 a.m in Freeborn Hall.

Considered by many to be a de facto national identity card, Real ID further alarms with the threat of pervasive ID theft and the all too real, staggering costs to states to implement such a system.

It's uncertain where the money will come from. The Real ID Act allows states to use some of their homeland security funding, but critics say this would increase vulnerability elsewhere.

On February 28, U.S. Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and John Sununu, R-N.H. introduced legislation (S. 717) that would repeal the Real ID Act's requirement for nationally standardized driver's license data and systems.

To repeal title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005, to restore section 7212 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which provides States additional regulatory flexibility and funding authorization to more rapidly produce tamper- and counterfeit-resistant driver's licenses, and to protect privacy and civil liberties by providing interested stakeholders on a negotiated rulemaking with guidance to achieve improved 21st century licenses to improve national security.