[Infowarrior] - Yet another state rejecting Real ID act

Wed Apr 18 02:43:05 UTC 2007

Gov signs law rejecting Real ID act

By The Associated Press

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/04/17/news/state/28-law.txt

HELENA - Gov. Brian Schweitzer signed a law Tuesday rejecting national
driver's licenses for Montanans, saying the message to the federal
government was "no, nope, no way, hell no."

The bill the governor signed rejected implementing the Real ID act in
Montana, a federal law that sets a national standard for driver's licenses
and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national
databases.

Montana joined two other states, Idaho and Arkansas, in enacting laws that
outright refuse to comply with the federal law, according to National
Conference on State Legislatures. Washington's legislature has also passed a
similar bill and Maine and Hawaii have passed resolutions opposing the Real
ID act.

The law says that the federally approved identification cards eventually
would be necessary to board airplanes or enter federal buildings.

"We also don't think that bureaucrats in Washington D.C. ought to tell us
that if we're going to get on a plane we have to carry their card, so when
it's scanned through they know where you went, when you got there and when
you came home," Schweitzer said.

"This is still a free country and there are no freer people than the people
that we have in Montana."

Published on Tuesday, April 17, 2007.
Last modified on 4/17/2007 at 12:59 pm