States May Disobey Drivers License Rules

Newsday ^ | May 10, 2005 | Suzanne Gamboa

[auzerais]

States May Disobey Driver's License Rules

By SUZANNE GAMBOA Associated Press Writer May 10, 2005, 8:19 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- States are threatening to challenge in court and even disobey new orders from Congress to start issuing more uniform driver's licenses and verify the citizenship or legal status of people getting them.

There is concern among some states that they'll get stuck with a large tab to pay for implementing the new rules and that getting a driver's license will become a bigger headache for law-abiding residents.

"Governors are looking at all their options. If more than half of the governors agree we're not going

[jsbankston]

Sure, just let the Feds introduce one unfunded mandate after another and let the states and state tax payers pick up the tab.

[muawiyah]

They drive on highways paid for out of federal taxes, but which are otherwise BUILT BY THE STATES.

The only place you'll find a federally built highway is on a military reservation, national park, Washington DC, etc.

[Leatherneck_MT]

" I do not want a "Papers Please" society."

Amen brother

[whereasandsoforth]

I plan on dropping out of the driver's license game when my present license expires. I haven't been stopped by a cop in thirty years. I don't write checks anymore. I don't fly in commercial airplanes. I've had the same open bank account for twenty years. If someone needs ID from me, they will just have to grow accustom to my face. I will continue to carry my birth announcement that appeared in The Dallas Times Herald the day after I was born. That's in case I drop dead on the street and they need to identify my corpse.

[goldstategop]

Most states have signed compacts that recognize each other's drivers' licenses as valid as though they were issued in the home state. This is to make it easy on visitors and tourists. Of course if you do intend to move to another state to take up permanent residence, you have to exchange drivers' licenses and car plates. The time frame depends on the state concerned but usually not exceeding 30 days.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[GrandEagle]

I think it's the "Act In Haste" clause. Or the "For the Children" amendment.
LOL - (If it were not so true)
I forgot about those.

[goldstategop]

More like built and maintained by the states but the money comes from Washington. The only non-contiguous U.S freeway is in Hawaii.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[greydog]

I thought the DL original purpose was to verify that the State which issued it confirmed that the individual to whom it was issued to proved to the same that he/she had the necessary skills to safely operate a motor-driven vehicle.

[redgolum]

Like it or not, we will soon be a country where you need internal passports to travel interstate.

I remember movies in the 80's where Russians could not understand why we in the US didn't need papers to travel in country.

I fear my children will not know what it means to be able to go anywhere in the US without hitting check points.

[CharlesWayneCT]

The same people that pay federal taxes pay state taxes. If I have a choice between increasing my federal taxes so they can send money to my state to pay for this program, or simply having my state raise taxes, I would rather just have the state raise taxes. That way there is no middleman, we get all the money we pay in (rather than it going to other states), and if we can do the task efficiently we actually get rewarded, rather than screwed.

This IS a national ID card. We need a national ID card, because we require picture ID to fly on an airplane (among many other things). But states already have driver licenses and so it is much less expensive to piggy-back on the state license process already in place.

The states that do a bad job of checking people for licenses will have a bigger additional expense than those who check more thoroughly now.

In Virginia, we issued driver licenses to several of the hijackers. Those licenses allowed them to get on the airplanes that killed our fellow citizens.

A libertarian would not at all like that we have to provide proof of who we are to simply live our lives. But unless we want to just get rid of airplane security (a valid idea in my opinion) we need to make it mean something.

[F16Fighter]

Our President, our legislators, and our gub'mint are not only negligent, but insubordinate.

Impeach them ALL for ignoring the will of the people AND disregarding the law of the land.

[RSmithOpt]

I fear my children will not know what it means to be able to go anywhere in the US without hitting check points.

Well, if the government had secured our borders after 9/11 and the states just didn't issue licenses to just anyone, and the social security admin verified a person's citizenship before handing out a number, and illegals we detained and deported always, then maybe such a thing would not come to pass. Americans are not forcing this issue. The government not enforcing its own laws are causing the problem.

[GrandEagle]

I do understand that it is headed that way. BUT, I will resist at every opportunity. I will not willingly lay down and conform.

Cordially,
GE

[Ragnorak]

The Federal government could certainly pass a law forbidding States to issue driver's licenses to immigrants and/or illegals, but I don't see any Constitutional basis for them to do this.

A DL is by its very nature intrastate. If one State objected to another State's licenses you might have a Federal issue but that is not the case.

We use DLs for ID as a convenience but that doesn't change the fact that all it is is a license to operate a motor vehicle.

The Feds may have it in their power to mandate a passport as ID for certain things they have control over, such as plane travel, but they have no Constitutional authority to mandate standards for an intrastate license issued to US Citizen-residents of a particular State.

My take on this is that this is clearly beyond the powers granted to the Federal government by the Constitution. However, if the Feds addressed their Constitutional responsibility to secure the borders, deport every illegal alien they found, etc. they would have no reason to take these unconstitutional measures.

[RSmithOpt]

YEAH!!!! What you said!!!

Why in the hell are we in Iraq and Afghanistan if our government will turn a blind eye to unsecured borders?

[GrandEagle]

However, if the Feds addressed their Constitutional responsibility to secure the borders, deport every illegal alien they found, etc. they would have no reason to take these unconstitutional measures.

AMEN!

[Jokelahoma]

I must really be missing something here, or my tinfoil hat isn't fitting correctly. I fail to see how demanding that states actually check before granting a driver's license to see if a person is who they say they are, and that they are in this country legally, will lead to having to "show papers" in order to go anywhere. I'd much rather know that a document used as a form of ID is at least checked for accuracy before turning the holder loose on society. Perhaps I'm just not sufficiently paranoid.

[cookcounty]

"I went with my son when he obtained his first license. He needed a birth certificate, a Social Security card, a picture ID, and proof of residence. What more is going to be required under the new laws? "

Well if your son could have shown a consular matricula from the Mexican Consulate, he wouldn't have needed all those documents in Illinois.

[jsbankston]

In ten years we will have to go to a Fed Identification Center and get our eyes scanned, a DNA Swab and a chip implanted in our butts.

[Little Pig]

I think the point is that once the DL becomes a uniform document, it will become easier to check for validity. In most cases when such an "internal passport" is created, it isn't long before it starts being treated that way, and being required to move from place to place (either through blatant border crossings, or through "just checking to see if you're legit, by the way, where are you going and why?"). Many in the US are concerned that if such a uniform document is implemented here, it won't be long before the government decides to start using it to monitor folks.