Three weeks ago, Minnesota state licensing officials raised an alarm with legislators that the state and its residents were way behind in meeting federal requirements for REAL ID driver’s licenses and identification cards.
Huge backlogs, delays in processing and an inability to impart a sense of urgency among state residents about applying for the more secure licenses made a nightmare scenario more likely, officials said — that tens of thousands of Minnesotans will not be allowed to board commercial air flights starting Oct. 1.
Wednesday the Legislature started doing something to help. Two bills, Senate File 3901 and its companion in the House, House File 3964, will loosen some outdated requirements for the types of documents needed to prove identity and residency.
Coming next from the Legislature could be money for additional staffing to ease the backlog at state license offices, something Gov. Tim Walz termed “a surge type of ask.”
The bills come in response to a request by the state Driver and Vehicle Services Division that the job of processing REAL ID applications would be made somewhat easier if staff didn’t have to reject documents for technical reasons. One example: A utility bill is currently invalid to prove residency if the addressees have different last names. That meant married couples with different names or roommates who share the bill couldn’t use the document.
Another current requirement is that a pay stub from an employer has to have the employer’s phone number, something many paystubs — including most of those issued to state workers — don’t have. Other oddities abound: A credit card statement is valid for establishing residency but a debit card statement is not; a property deed or title is good — but only if it was issued within the previous 12 months; and an insurance policy is also valid — but not a proof of insurance card issued by an insurer.
The two bills would change all those requirements — and others.
[image_caption]State Sen. Scott Newman[/image_caption]
Newman said he would like the bill to be on Walz’s desk by the end of March. It would take effect no later than four weeks after it is signed.
“What you are doing here will have a dramatic effect at the registrars and in the licensing offices,” said Tim Lynaugh, assistant commissioner at the department of public safety.
REAL ID is a requirement that emerged from the 9-11 Commission convened to investigate the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and make recommendations about future policies. One of those recommendations was to create systems that would make it more difficult for potential terrorists to get photo identification fraudulently. The rules pressured states to require that residents seeking licenses and ID cards provide more rigorous proof of their identity and their residency.
While the deadline for compliance was moved back several times, the federal government has now determined that Oct. 1, 2020, is final. Residents without REAL ID, enhanced driver’s licenses or passports will not be allowed to board commercial airliners or enter most federal facilities, such as military bases.
Minnesota was one of a handful of states that resisted the requirement, largely over concerns about privacy. Finally, in 2017, Minnesota adopted REAL ID, but as the last state to comply, it was behind other states in complying with the standards.
There are still concerns among state legislators. On Wednesday, Sen. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville, wanted assurances that the DVS staff members who handle identity documents have been screened for criminal records. “What does DVS have in place to assure that some of this stuff couldn’t be pillfered or absconded with and we have some fake REAL IDs out there with the actual documents,” Howe asked.
Lynaugh said that any worker who handles documents has undergone a criminal background check and will continue to be, even with efforts to beef up staff to meet the current rush.
Also Wednesday, Walz helped open a REAL ID office at MSP. The office, which is past the security checkpoints in Terminal 1, is a partnership between the state and the Metropolitan Airports Commission and can be used by ticketed passengers while waiting for flights. “We need to be very candid with people on this,” Walz said. “We need to get the message out to Minnesotans. They need to get this done.”
As of Wednesday, the state estimates that 366,000 residents have REAL ID licenses or ID cards and 276,000 have enhanced licenses that are REAL ID compliant. But that is less than 13 percent of the state’s license and ID card holders. The state also estimates that about 37 percent have passports, which can be used for access to airplanes and federal facilities.
Residents who have no travel plans or don’t need to visit federal facilities don’t need REAL ID and can continue to use licenses issued before these requirements.
Because of the time it takes to process new licenses, the state DVS is currently issuing licenses to applicants who completed the applications on Jan. 3. Carried forward, that means a resident would have to apply by June 15 to be assured of receiving their new license by Oct. 1.
To apply, residents must show up at licensing offices, either those that are state run or private registrars, and must have all documentation ready to be scanned. Top DVS officials report that many applicants wait in line only to learn that they don’t have the required documents to show identity, date of birth, legal presence in the U.S., a Social Security number and proof of residency in Minnesota.
“To see people line up is a frustration,” Lynaugh said. “What becomes even more frustrating is when they get up to that counter and the documentation they brought isn’t going to work. It may speed the line a little bit but it will definitely eliminate the second and third and fourth time back, which is unfortunately common.”
The department is urging residents to use the online pre-application to speed up the process and assure that the documents they are using are valid.
The Fed’s gave us guidelines but the Legislators (Republicans for the most part) made up all of these cockamamie additional rules that make no sense. For instance you federal and state tax forms cannot be used to verify your SS AND your address? Laminated SS cards that have no tactile security features on them cannot be used to verify your SS number? County issued property tax “estimates” cannot do no not verify you’re address?
None of this makes any sense from a security or identity perspective. Presumably they verify all of this information by cross checking with their own records- i.e. they HAVE your tax returns with your SS number on them AND your address. And frankly, your current address is irrelevant from a security perspective, your passport doesn’t have either your SS OR you address on it, but it gets you into your airplane at the airport.
If you really want to know what these ID’s are all about, think about the voter ID’s republicans wanted to require, and are still trying to require.
I think the real agenda was to create and require voter ID’s so in future battles they could argue that everyone already has them, so we may as well require them to vote.
But you can see how difficult they are to obtain for so many people, which is why voter ID is really just voter suppression. Just imagine the election is two weeks away and you’re trying to get one of these IDs? And if you don’t have it, you get a “provisional” ballot that may not ever be counted.
Americans are taught to be civic minded, informed and to always vote.
Republicans cannot win if everyone votes.
Hence all of the extra bogus work trying to discourage ordinary people from voting at all.
This must be confusing to young people, especially prior to their ideals being crushed with cynicism and winner-take-all scorched earth politics..
“For instance you federal and state tax forms cannot be used to verify your SS AND your address? ”
People move, and some use identity theft. In fact, the SCOTUS just ruled that states may prosecute people in this country illegally using fake SSI cards for felony identy theft.
I’m also extremely disappointed in my elected representatives. I know constituents including myself have been raising this issue for months and legislators have been blowing it off until now. I’ve been told there’s nothing they can do about it because it’s a federal requirement. And Howe’s big concern is whether or not DVS staff have been screened?
This whole process was a nightmare. Took me 3 trips to the DMV to get it done. First time, I got my regular license renewal notice in the mail. Better get down to the DMV I thought to myself. I get there, wait 45 minutes in line, get to the counter and the guy says “Oh, you’re getting a regular license?” (I didn’t know about real id yet). He says it’s waste of time because I’d just be back later in the year to get a new real id. Tells me to go home and come back with my passport, social security card and either a printout of a check image I’ve had run through my bank account or a physical cancelled check that I got back with my bank statement (like who gets those anymore??).
I come back, wait another 45 minutes. Get to the counter with a different person and he says my check image printout won’t be valid says when they scan all my documents in to the federal database they will be reviewed and my ink jet printer wasn’t acceptable quality. Sends me home and tells me to come back with an official bank statement. Except I get e-statements and they already didn’t like my printer. So I had to go to the bank for an official printout. Come back. This time the line is down to half an hour and they finally accept my paperwork.
Then it took 9 weeks to arrive. The whole process was awful.
I did the early on line check in thing, but have not yet gone to get my real ID. Only when I read this article did I learn that my pay stub must have the employer’s phone number.
Why wouldn’t the DVS web site tell me that when it walked me through what i will need for proper documentation?
There is NO DMV in Minnesota. None.
Thue bureaucratic nit-picking in this Real ID process is worthy of Franz Kafka’s novels.
I went, had all the appropriate documents that were listed on the DMV website, Get to the utility bill to prove, with my valid driver’s license, that I live where I live–and that was on another document or two, as well–and the clerk warns me that the water and sewer bill I submitted did not have my first and middle names completely spelled out, just the initials and my full last name. “They’re going to reject it, ma-am.”
Sure enough, eight weeks later I get a letter saying that I only submitted one of the two does-she-live-there documentary proofs (I.e., they don’t put in writing that you can submit last month’s water bill at your home address and if your full name isn’t on it, well, Too Bad For You). No way to have written proof that they denied a valid utility bill. Cute.
Minnesota wants to undermine the security of vetted ID because the Democrat leadership stalled until the last minute?
No. Just no.
If you have a FEDERAL ID Card from any “trusted traveler” program, you do not need a REAL ID driver’s license. Just carry both when flying on a commercial airline. They are much simpler to get, last longer, and cost less. I do not want or need European-style “papers (I remember the WWII movies).