May 17, 2005 - For Immediate Release

Real ID Act will change driver licensing process

OLYMPIA—The process for getting or renewing a Washington state driver license or identification card will change greatly under legislation recently passed by Congress and signed by President Bush.

Under this new law, called the Real ID Act, the state will have three years to prepare the necessary infrastructure to be able to collect images of identity documentation, like birth certificates, passports, or immigration papers, and contacting the agencies that issue the documents to verify their authenticity.

“This is going to affect everyone with a driver license or state identification card,” DOL Director Liz Luce said. “We are committed to make any new processes as convenient as we possibly can.”

Initial estimates indicate that the new processes will cost about $50 million a year during the initial period of verifying the identities of all current license and ID card holders. A new fee will likely be required to cover the cost of collecting and verifying documents, but how much that fee will be is unknown at this time.

The state may have to issue special licenses to drivers who do not have the required documentation or who have documentation that can't be verified. These licenses will allow the holder to drive, but could not be used as federal identification.

If the state fails to make these changes, federal agencies will stop honoring the Washington license or ID card as valid identification at places like airport security checkpoints, border crossings, or federal buildings.

Depending on the other agencies DOL has to contact to verify a citizen's documents, the extra time required to receive a license could range from several days to several months. This means it will be very important for citizens to renew their license or ID card earlier than they normally would, especially if they are planning to travel, once this program is in place.

“We still have a lot of details to work out with the federal government, but we will keep the public informed about the new requirements as we get closer to putting them in place,” Luce said.

Once the new process is in place a few years from now, the identity verification will take place when any license or ID card is issued or renewed. The verification process only has to be completed once, when they get a new license or when their current license or ID card expires.