JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Republicans from across the state have spoken against the latest possibility that the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration may no longer accept Missouri state driver’s licenses for citizens boarding planes.
Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Rep. Bill Reiboldt, R-Neosho, criticized the federal government for what they see as an intrusion. The conflict stems from a law passed by the General Assembly in 2009 that made Missouri exempt from the national Real ID Act, which would create a national database of all driver’s license records and set federal standards for such forms of identification in an effort, they said, to strengthen the nation against possible terrorist threats.
Others saw it as an affront on privacy by a federal body.
“The real-world implication of a nationalized ID system, with biometric photo data that allows for long-distance identification and tracking of residents, is disturbing,” Kinder said in a release. “That’s why in 2009 the Missouri General Assembly passed HB 361 to stand athwart the federal government’s continued encroachment on Missourians’ liberties.”
Missouri’s HB 361, as well as a few other state laws, sought to counteract that measure. Missouri added further provisions to the law in 2013.
In January, the enforcement of the Real ID law will go into effect, and Missouri and those other states could have problems using the most common form of identification to board airplanes.
Reiboldt adds that the law comes with a litany of other problems.
“Acceptance of this law by the states would turn state drivers’ licenses into a national identity card,” he wrote on his website. “It would impose numerous new burdens on taxpayers, citizens, immigrants, and state governments. It would mandate states to standardize driver’s licenses into a single national identity card with the driver’s personal information going into a national database.
“It’s becoming obvious that the cost of securing our nation’s citizens from future terrorist attacks carries a high price tag. What it really comes down to is this, though: how willing are we to give up personal information for safety and security?”
