March 16th, 2007
MO House rejects Real ID
The Missouri House overwhelmingly voted today to refuse to follow the federal Real ID law, the Jefferson City News Tribune reports.
Rep. Jim Guest said the federal law is an invasion of privacy and could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to comply. He worries that a provision requiring licenses to contain “common machine readable technology” could result in a Big Brother kind of system with the government able to track a person's every move through a computer chip.
“We must not lose what this nation was founded upon,” said Guest, a Republican. “The Real ID Act is a direct frontal assault on our freedoms.”
But there will be a cost to Missouri's rebellion, unless the federal government changes its plans in the face of the states' rebellion. State licenses that don't comply with Real ID won't be suitable for boarding airplanes. So Guest is working with lawmakers in some 30 states to force Congress to back off.
The House passed a resolution 146-4 opposing the federal requirements and prohibiting Missouri agencies from implementing them. The measure moves to the Senate for further consideration.
Missouri already requires license applicants to show that they are legally in the country, which is part of the Real ID requirements.
