April 4, 2008
The Honorable Daniel K. Akaka The Honorable John E. Sununu
United States Senate United States Senate
141 Hart Senate Office Building 111 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510
RE: NCSL Supports The Identification Security Enhancement Act of 2007 (S.717)
Dear Senators Akaka and Sununu:
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) expresses its support for your legislation – S. 717, the Identification Security Enhancement Act of 2007 – that would repeal the REAL ID Act and reinstitute the negotiated rulemaking process that preceded it.
State legislators are extremely concerned about homeland security and place security and emergency preparedness as a very high policy and budgetary priority. State legislators share the goals of REAL ID and are committed to making sure that state-issued identity credentials are tamper-resistant, free from fraud and abuse, and reliable documents. Many state legislatures initiated efforts to improve state-issued driver’s licenses even before the tragedy of September 11, 2001.
However, lacking the full policy and financial commitment of the federal government to ensure the success of the state-federal partnership needed to make REAL ID possible, NCSL now calls upon Congress to repeal REAL ID and reinstate the negotiated rule-making process. This approach will achieve our shared goals for security in a manner that respects states’ rights, privacy protections, and fiscal responsibility.
Please have your staff contact Jeremy Meadows (202-624-8664; jeremy.meadows@ncsl.org) or Molly Ramsdell (202-624-3584; molly.ramsdell@ncsl.org) in NCSL’s Washington office with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your courage to seek this reasoned approach to security measures. We look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Representative Donna D. Stone Speaker Joe Hackney
Delaware House of Representatives North Carolina House of Representatives
President President-Elect
CC: Members, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Members, U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs
 NCSL Real ID Issue Page
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