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Editorial: State needs quick driver’s license fix

Thu., April 14, 2016

If the Washington Legislature had a slogan, it wouldn’t be: “No Time Like the Present.”

We’ve seen that with funding basic education and other issues. We see it with state driver’s licenses, which remain out of compliance with a federal law that was passed 11 years ago.

Congress adopted the REAL ID Act of 2005 upon the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. The purpose was to adopt minimal security standards to make it more difficult for terrorists to move about the country undetected.

The commission noted “sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.”

More than two dozen states are still out of compliance, according to an Associated Press article, but most of them have made sufficient progress to be granted an extension. Washington is one of only four states to be turned down.

Currently, this means Washingtonians who want to access military bases need additional identification. On Jan. 22, 2018, it will mean they won’t be able to board a commercial airliner with a standard driver’s license as ID.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson made the announcement in January. The director of the state Department of Licensing warned lawmakers the feds would be unlikely to grant an extension if lawmakers failed to show progress.

But even getting a bill introduced has been a challenge. So, unlike states that have been granted an extension, Washington has one legislative session left to solve this problem before the 2018 deadline.

As of January, about 500,000 Washingtonians had an enhanced driver’s license, which costs more and is federally compliant. It also allows travel in Canada and Mexico. Ten times that many people had a standard Washington license, and another 600,000 people have regular ID cards, neither of which are federally compliant.

That’s a lot of people who will be blocked from boarding planes if the Legislature doesn’t act.

Washington is the only state that doesn’t require people to prove they’re in the country legally before issuing a standard driver’s license or ID card.

Making this mandatory sounds simple, but this could increase the number of people driving without licenses and insurance. The reality is that illegal immigrants will drive, either to and from work or at work. It’s better to have them licensed to ensure basic training.

For this circumstance, the state could issue a license with a prominent “not for federal purposes” stamp. Holders of this license would need some other form of ID or a passport to board a plane. Everyone else would have to demonstrate they are in the country legally before getting a driver’s license that is federally compliant. The enhanced license does the trick, but it is currently voluntary.

This two-tiered system – used in California – has been endorsed by Gov. Jay Inslee.

If lawmakers have a better solution, fine. But what they don’t have is any more time to delay action.