Real ID for Alaskans?
There are a few issues on the radar screen today with editorial cartoon potential. The most hotly debated is the Real ID issue.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anc) is pushing legislation that would defy the federal government’s mandate for states to issue driver’s licenses in compliance with the federal Real ID Act.
It seems that so far 17 states have passed laws and resolutions against the federal Real IDÂ act, and 7 are refusing to comply. From the looks of the follow-up comments in the Anchorage Daily News there are a lot of folks in Alaska who feel the same: reject the federal government’s big-brother approach.
Having skimmed the text of the federal law, it appears that after May 11, 2008, Alaska state driver’s licenses and ID cards will no longer be good for identification for any purpose that falls under federal regulation including:
- boarding any federally regulated commercial aircraft (including charter flights and air taxis);
- passing through any U.S. Port of entry including international airports, shipping ports and border crossings;
- entering federal facilities including federal office buildings and military reservations.
In other words, if you don’t have federally recognized ID you can forget traveling between Alaska and the lower 48, or even boarding a commercial bush plane anywhere in Alaska.
LINKS:
Read the whole Anchorage Daily News article with follow-up comments.
You can read the entire act as entered in the U.S. Federal Register.
Well, it’s time to start sketching…
Filed under: Alaska Politics, Federal Government | Tagged: Alaska, cartoon, ID, identification, political, realID, rogermaynard, Wielechowski
This one is great fodder for a cartoon. I remember traveling through China in the late ’80’s and watching the civil population having to produce travel papers to go anywhere outside their home district by commercial travel, which was the only way to get around short of walking. How much I appreciated being an American where we are free to travel without jumping through the government hoops.
Well it looks like we are headed toward the China of Tenamen time and perhaps China is lightening up a bit.
Al
Your opinion is in line with most Alaskans. Although most of us agree on the need to pay attention to homeland security, given free reign they will go right over the top. Somebody needs to tell the feds this is too much.
The other part of the issue is how much MORE onerous these regulations would be for Alaskans. In their discussion the feds point out that everyone will still be able to ride a train, a bus, taxi, or other public transportation…how many of those exist in rural Alaska?