state politics: idaho
Idaho House Shoots Down Real ID
By Sharon Fisher, 3-14-08
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The Idaho House passed unanimously yesterday a bill directing the Idaho Department of Transportation not to implement the federal REAL ID Act – a decision that, if passed by the Senate and signed by Governor Butch Otter, could theoretically prevent Idahoans from using their driver’s licenses for boarding planes and opening some kinds of bank accounts.
The so-called Real ID is an unfunded Congressional mandate from 2005 for nationwide specifications for drivers’ licenses that was ostensibly intended to help protect Americans from terrorists, but it has since been opposed by more than 30 states, including Montana.
It defines a number of requirements for driver’s licenses, including a digital photo, various features intended to keep it from being duplicated, and could potentially include a radio frequency ID chip. In addition, it requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases. People who live in states that do not comply with the act will not be able to use their driver’s licenses for boarding an airplane, entering a federal building, or opening some bank accounts.
The Idaho Legislature had passed a joint memorial last year opposing REAL ID, but that bill had no force of law, while this one specifically tells ITD not to implement it and to report to the Governor and the Legislature any federal attempts to force the department to do so.
Otter was a cosponsor of the bill when he was in Congress but has since repudiated it as too expensive and an attack on civil liberties.
ITD Director Pamela Lowe told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee earlier this session that Idaho had applied for and received an extension until December, 2009.
Assuming the federal government follows through on its threat to forbid citizens from non-REAL ID-complying states from boarding planes using driver’s licenses, Idaho citizens will still be able to use other types of government documents, such as passports.
[End of article]Way to go, Idaho - I didn't know you had it in you!
Comment By don, 3-14-08Hey holotone, give us a break!
We're one of the last "live free or die" states out there.
@don:
"We're one of the last "live free or die" states out there."
Maybe up north, but down south (where I grew up) is nothing but a cesspool of bass-ackward, "whatever the president sez" conservatism - Not the admirable live free or die / libertarian conservatism of the north.
OMG, an "unfunded mandate", oh the horror.
I can't speak for Idaho, but in Montana, the state house excels at producing unfunded mandates. So I just have to laugh when I hear them complaining about the Feds doing the same darn thing.
What difference where the mandate comes from folks?
It is all unfunded until you pay your taxes; or the money is borrowed from China..!
Another strong case for bio-regionalism.
Comment By Sharon Fisher, 3-15-08Makes me proud to be an Idahoan, it does.
Also gives me a lot of respect for the legislators who proposed it, who aren't the people I necessarily would have thought of as being behind something like this.
Just to make a point:
When was the last time a state carried the day on a thing like this..?
You're talking, holotone, about those rightwingchristiancrazies from up around Sandpoint are you?
Comment By holotone, 3-16-08Hey, I never said all of the right wingers were good up there - Just that there were a few that I didn't mind TOO terribly much.
Comment By Sharon Fisher, 3-16-08Yes, something that I've learned by following the Legislature is that a) not all Republicans are bad and b) almost everyone in the Legislature does something I can agree with at least some of the time.
Comment By Sharon Fisher, 3-18-08From ACLU of Idaho:
On Wednesday morning, HB 606 will be heard in the Senate State Affairs Committee and it is important that we let them know that Real ID is a Real Nightmare. Please urge the members of the Senate State Affairs Committee to vote “YES” on HB 606 and to reject the Real ID Act.
Senate State Affairs Committee
Senator Curt McKenzie, Chairman (District 12): (208) 468-1027
Senator Michael Jorgenson, Vice Chair (District 3): (208) 762-5514
Senator Denton Darrington (District 27): (208) 654-2712
Senator Robert L. Geddes (District 31): (208) 547-2423
Senator Bart M. Davis (District 33): (208) 529-4993
Senator Joe Stegner (District 7): (208) 743-3032
Senator Brad Little (District 11): (208) 365-6566
Senator Clint Stennett (District 25): (208) 726-8106
Senator Kate Kelly (District18): (208) 850-7217
Mark me up as another one who's in very rare agreement with anything coming out of the so-called "people's" Statehouse on this RightWing(R) planet called Idaho .
On the list of "laws" that define a totalitarian society , a National ID card is one of the top ten . I was wondering whether I'd have to not drive/fly/live normally in order to maintain my principles or to drive with-out an ID but Very safely . Now , I can stay "legal" .
YIPPIE . . .
Good job ya-all !
I just gotta pose some questions tho , for all the new minted Republican civil liberty lovin' legislators at the Idaho temp Statehouse , Idaho's (R) reps in the US Congress and the hood-winked voters who put 'em there :
WHY have ya-all been MUTE on the multiple abuses of the US Constitution that President Bush has enacted ? Abuses inflicted on America Not , by the "will of Congress" or other legal means , but by the secret stroke of ONE man's pen . Were you as silent when the pen was Bill's , how 'bout when it's Hill's or Barak's ?
Ha-AA !
Remember the bad old days when Republicans , and ONLY Republicans of every level would wail about " Jack-Booted Thugs" (JBTs) on an almost daily basis ?
It's been what , at least 8 years since we've heard that term ,
RIGHT ?
From the fiery desert of Waco , to the choppy seas of Elian Gonzalez , the WingNut(R) cry was "...blah, blah, Jack-Booted Thugs, blah,blah , JBTs , Clinton, Reno...JBTs , , , BLAH ! "
It seems that Jack Booted Thugs only exist under a Democratic President , what d'ya know . Watch for JBTs to be a daily meme on Fixed News when a Democrat sits in the White house next January .
It's like the GOP's bottom-line understanding of partisan politics:
Rule # 1...
Punish ALL corrupt Sinners , harshly !
Rule # 2...
Republicans NEVER sin , are NEVER corrupt .
Ya gotta respect the cynical game plan if NOT their ethics and values .
Mr. and Mrs. Republican voter ,
does your vote say ya love America , or , , ,
does it say you really love your political Party more ?
Answer that with the wise words of this Man in mind and heart :
" . . . ye shall know by their fruits . . . "
and
" . . . ye shall (can) be saved . . . "
my e-mail is : , , , I LOVE to debate Wingers but just know that I'll respond in my version of the Golden Rule . What ya do unto me , I'll return in kind or spades . Respect 4 respect and the other side of that slippery coin , et. al. .
My blog is : http://geedubyablows.blogspot.com/
Let's debate , , , !
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