The Arizona House of Representatives has joined the State Senate in making it clear it wants nothing to do with the federal government Real ID program.
It is a decision that is welcomed by privacy advocates and those of us concerned about the continuing power grabs by the federal government in the name of security.
The near unanimous vote Tuesday to approve HB 2677 was essentially a rejection of the idea of a national identification card that would be achieved by co-opting state driver's licenses.
The law would prevent Gov. Janet Napolitano from fulfilling an agreement she reached with the Department of Homeland Security to provide an alternative to the Real ID. The federal government wants state to produce tamperproof driver's licenses. The governor agreed to create a "3-in-1" license for Arizona residents that could be used for driving, as proof of citizenship and for border crossing instead of a passport. However, that requires legislative approval.
Lawmakers say the "3-in-1" license is just a temporary delay to the Real ID requirement, which Homeland officials said all states would eventually have to meet. Instead of an alternative, they want the state to say no to the Real ID, as nine other states have done.
The hope is that if enough states resist, the federal government will back down. Homeland Security has already delayed implementation of Real IDs - which would include links to individual private information in a federal database - from last month until the end of 2009.
Americans have long viewed the ability to travel within our borders without government interference or monitoring as a basic right. Driver's licenses were intended only to offer proof of driving ability, not as an identification.
Unfortunately, the misuse of driver's licenses for ID purposes has grown over the years. But that does not justify even further and more extensive violation of Americans' privacy by transforming it into a national ID card.
That is especially true because the licenses, if embedded with electronic chips, could be used to monitor and track the activities of Americans without their knowledge. Their private information would also be stored in a national database, putting it at the fingertips of federal officials and others who might breach security.
Whether the governor will go along with the Legislature's opposition to the IDs is not yet known. She should sign the law so the federal government will get the message that Arizona won't accept this intrusion into our private lives.
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