Sen. Durbin sets national rules for state IDs

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., April 16 outlined legislation that would set national standards for state-issued driver's licenses, permitting rapid data-sharing among certain government agencies.

The measure marks Congress' first attempt at a comprehensive overhaul of state identification systems since last year's terrorist attacks. It would set federal rules for granting licenses, build in high-tech, anti-counterfeiting measures and provide funding for states to make changes within three to five years.

The plan is coming before Congress this spring with strong support from police chiefs and administrators of the nation's motor-vehicle departments. Those groups believe the public is more supportive of a national system than ever before, citing a poll showing that 77 percent of Americans favor changes to how licenses and ID cards are issued.

Anticipating objections by civil-liberties and consumer groups who oppose a national ID system on privacy grounds, Durbin emphasized his measure would leave the authority to issue and revoke licenses solely with the states.

"This [measure] is about state-issued driver's licenses, not a national ID," Durbin said at a hearing yesterday in which he invited testimony by government and trade groups. "Since Sept. 11, we have come to realize this is going to become the coin of the realm in this country. You are going to have to produce a photo ID. The question is, is it reliable, and is it accurate?"

Representatives of police, motor-vehicle agencies and the National Governors Association testified on Capitol Hill yesterday that the nation's current system of verifying citizens' identify is broken and vulnerable to criminal use.

The American Association of Motor Vehicles Administrators offered survey results that showed strong support for changes, including an 88 percent majority who favor allowing states to share drivers' identities and motor history. The survey was conducted by Public Opinion Strategies of 800 license holders from April 2 to 4 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.

There are more than 200 valid forms of driver's licenses and ID cards issued by the states and other levels of government, said Betty Serian, vice chairwoman of the association and Pennsylvania deputy secretary for transportation. Individual agencies have different requirements. Kansas, for example, does not require any document other than a photo to obtain a driver's license.

Eight of the 19 Sept. 11 terrorists obtained official state-issued licenses by exploiting Virginia regulations that grant licenses based on a notarized form vouching for an applicant's state residency. One hijacker, Ziad Samir Jarrah, was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 95 north of Baltimore Sept. 9, but produced an apparently valid Virginia driver's license and was not detained.

"What we have is a system that is broken, and a product that is not very reliable," Serian said.

A coalition of liberal and conservative civil-liberties groups and privacy advocates disputed the public merits of Durbin's proposal. They said it would create a de facto national ID that would greatly expand government's awareness of people's movements and activities.

"It looks like a national ID, walks like a national ID and quacks like a national ID," said J. Bradley Jansen, deputy director at the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank, in remarks prepared for Durbin's panel.

Critics say creating a high-technology network of government databases, setting national requirements for issuing IDs and subsidizing it with federal funds would build an infrastructure that could be exploited and expanded by police, marketers and others. They say terrorists and other criminals would likely still find ways to create fraudulent documents.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center said support for a national ID card is falling in national polls, to 26 percent, and that motor-vehicle departments rank alongside the Internal Revenue Service in public estimation of trustworthiness to administer such a system.

"The proposal would be ineffective, expensive and would present a serious threat to core American liberties," said Katie Corrigan, spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union.

A draft of Durbin's proposal would require the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to develop minimum verification requirements for states and identify common security features such as holograms or unique identifiers that would be included on cards.

The proposed legislation also would outline how state and federal governments would share information. The proposal would bar independent collection or storage of data and impose other restrictions, as well as enhanced penalties for fraud and fake-ID manufacture and use.

Rep. James Moran, D-Va., is also drafting legislation in the House that would require states to have stricter card-issuing standards and to include biometric technology on ID cards, such as fingerprint or retinal-scan data.

© 2002 The Washington Post Company