UPDATED: Arizona says no to Real ID
DHS awards $80 million in Real ID grants
Calling Real ID an unfunded mandate, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano says the state will not comply with the law. Napolitano signed a bill joining roughly a dozen states saying they won’t meet the requirements of the law.
Napolitano’s biggest issue is the cost of Real ID. She cited a White House estimate that Real ID would cost at least $4 billion to implement. But thus far, she said, the federal government has only appropriated $90 million to help Arizona and other states comply with the measure.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security disputes the characterization that Real ID is unfunded. A spokesperson says states have access to hundreds of millions in federal grants.
DHS also announced that Fiscal Year 2008 Real ID Demonstration Grant awards totaling nearly $80 million to assist states in improving the security of state-issued driver licenses and identification documents. Grants are funding state-specific projects like improving the physical security of licenses, upgrading facility security, and modernizing document imaging and storage.
Funding will also be provided for the development and testing of a verification hub that will enable states to query federal and non-federal document-issuing authorities and verify applicant source documents, such as birth certificates.
Read the full story here. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/secureidnews-4.gif)
