Posted on 12/05/2007 5:51:13 PM PST by Kieri
Michigan would get a new driver's license and state identification card under a plan announced today by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.
Only those who are Michigan residents and legally in the United States would be able to get the new standard license. Michigan now is one of a handful of states in which illegal immigrants can get driver's licenses.
The new license has new security features, making it harder to counterfeit. It could be used by residents to get on board airplanes in the United States when the federal Real ID Act takes effect as early as next year. Without a revised ID card and license, residents would need a passport to get on a domestic flight when the federal law takes effect, according to Land's office.
Other legislation proposed by Land would create an optional, enhanced driver's license and state ID card. The enhanced version could be used for travel to Canada and other Western Hemisphere countries in place of a passport once the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative takes effect in 2008.
Most of the bills to implement the changes will be introduced by Republicans, although there also is a Democratic sponsor in the mix.
"Our world continues to change, and Michigan must keep pace," Land, a Republican in her second term, said in a statement. "This plan ensures the integrity of state-issued licenses and helps to secure America's borders."
Both license versions would be designed to fight fraud, including the use of bar code technology.
"These measures are common sense," Sen. Alan Sanborn, a Republican from Macomb County's Richmond Township, said in a statement.
Improved technology and increased documentation checks will make the new licenses more expensive than current versions. But those costs are not yet finalized.
The federal government has not released final rules for the Real ID Act, which was adopted in the wake of the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative also will require more stringent travel regulations, and the new Michigan proposals will help fulfill them, said Rep. Steve Tobocman, a Democrat from Detroit and a bill sponsor.
Tobocman's legislation relates to the enhanced licenses that could be used to meet passport requirements.
"This new passport requirement has severe economic implications for Michigan's tourism and retail industries and trade relations with Canada," Tobocman said in a statement. "Michigan's economy is already struggling - we can't afford to lose a single tourism dollar, let alone millions of dollars in Canadian travel revenue."
Democrats are going to HATE it in election seasons.
Nice.
Love the idea! Thanks, Terri. About time.
I like her. Between her and Candice Miller, our Secretary of States offices (DMV’s to you other peeps) run MUCH more efficiently. And this makes me like her even more.
Who is asking for it?
Yep. Miller was and Land is a very good S.O.S.
Teri Lynn Land, Republican. The efficiency of the Michigan Secretary of State’s office has improved 100% under her direction. It languished for years and years under Austin, a democrat.
My prediction.
This is Terry Land’s first step in her run for governor in a few years.
I’ve been hearing Mike Cox (rep. atty gen) on the air quite a bit lately, too. Wondered the same about him.
I misplaced my drivers license a while back. I took my birth certificate, social security card, an electric bill, and several bank statements as proof of who I am to the sec of state office.
They looked at my electric bill and gave me a new license based on that.
Michigan - inhabited by the Third World with the economy of the Third World. This is the kind of leadership I expect from a GOP politician. You BOYS out there listening? Giuliani? Huck? McCain?
I don’t have to go there very often but when I have, they have always been stringent. But polite. I suppose it depends on where you go.
From what I’ve seen of her so far, she would get my vote.
I remember Terri when she was a precinct delegate. Then a few years later, Secretary of the Kent County Republicans.
When running for Congress for the first time, she saw our Land sign in the front yard and stopped to introduce herself.
Boy, I'll say! Last year they even sent me my plate tags for free.........LOL! its true!
Do you favor licensing illegals?
Larry, see #16
Of course not and neither does she. What is your point?
Get out.
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