Sanford Says No to Real ID, SC Stands Alone

Well the Governor did it, he put South Carolina out there as the bastion once again of States Rights against the undaunted reality of federalism.

The initial reports from The State News Paper, and check out these...


The Press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joel Sawyer
803-734-2100
jsawyer@gov.sc.gov

Governor Sanford Responds to Real ID Issue
GOVERNOR SAYS SC ALREADY MOVING TOWARD MORE SECURE LICENSE,
SAYS STATE LAW PREVENTS ANY FORM OF REAL ID COMPLIANCE

Columbia, S.C. – March 31, 2008 – Governor Mark Sanford today responded to the federal government’s REAL ID mandate, asking that our state’s citizens not be treated differently from other states that have laws on their books preventing the implementation of the national ID card program.

In a letter sent today to the US Department of Homeland Security, Governor Sanford pointed to a law passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Sanford in 2007, which prevents the state from complying with the Real ID Act. Homeland Security has said that an extension request is a form of compliance with Real ID. The governor has respectfully asked the Department of Homeland Security not to inconvenience South Carolinians who fly or enter federal buildings, given that our state’s driver’s licenses are already some of the most secure in the country – and given what DHS has elected to do with other states that have the same law.

“At the end of the day, I’m duty-bound to uphold the laws of our state, which right now say we can’t comply with Real ID,” Gov. Sanford said. “That being said, I do fall into the camp that believes Real ID is poor public policy for any number of reasons, and we have some real questions as to whether the benefits in terms of security outweigh the costs in terms of time and money. We think the state legislature did the right thing last year when it said no to Real ID, and I’m going to keep working with Homeland Security and with other governors to keep this law from negatively impacting our state.”

In his letter to Homeland Security, Governor Sanford pointed out the following facts:

- South Carolina’s Department of Motor Vehicles has already met – on its own – roughly 90 percent of the benchmarks the federal government has laid out for making ID’s more secure.

- Congress has not debated Real ID as this legislation did not see hearings in the House or Senate.

- Real ID is a more than $9 billion unfunded federal mandate that would cost South Carolinians $116 million over 10 years, and mean wait times of up to two hours at the DMV.

- Real ID presents privacy concerns for all Americans on a range of fronts.

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And here's the .pdf File of the Governor's letter to the Homeland Security Department, thankfully The State already had it uploaded and I didn't have to go through the trouble.

I have mixed feelings about this. I wrote about this previously rather flipantly, but in all honesty - I'm kinda glad he is telling the federalis to shove it up their you-know-what's on this one. I'm a fan of privacy and there's nothing like large government databanks tracking your every move that frighten me. The only thing more frightning is that private entities are doing it already!

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