Testimony • Apr 2016 • Real ID and Federal Control: An Explainer from CCHF President Twila Brase (January 25, 2021)

H.F. 3959 (Smith) – REAL ID – CCHF Testimony – House Civil Law Committee

H.F. 3959 (Smith) – REAL ID – CCHF Testimony – House Civil Law Committee – 4/25/2016
 
1)    VIOLATES STATES RIGHTS: Conforming to the federal Real ID Act is a violation of states’ rights and individual rights as protected under the 10th Amendment.
 
2)    FEDERAL CONTROL: This bill puts the federal government in control of the freedom of Minnesotans as noted by the “full compliance and conformity” language on 11.16. HF 3959 eliminates our state-authorized drivers’ license and ID cards and turns them into federal ID cards, over which the Minnesota state legislature will have no control. Minnesota retains control over issuing them, but the federal government will mandate what gets issued.
 
3)    PURPOSE OF REAL ID: Under the federal REAL ID Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security can expand the purposes of the card at any time and without limit. Despite the language on line 3.10 that refuses changes without legislative approval, if the legislature refuses to support states and individual rights now, this language gives little comfort that the legislature will do it the next time Homeland Security mandates a different use for the card.
 
4)    PRIVACY – the DHS privacy assessment says the unique number of REAL ID could pose greater risks worse than the SSN. They warn it could turn into a credential that every business, hotel, and health care provider demands. with data points of every encounter running through the distributed federal database. Expect it to become a national patient ID.
 
5)    SINGLE DATABASE: A single distributed database is in the works. According to Edward Hasbrouck, a consultant to the Identity Project in a Cato Institute presentation, Homeland Security has already built the “hub” discussed in the federal REAL ID rule; now they need to convince all 50 states and 5 US territories to connect to it, which will create a single national distributed database of all Americans and how and where they use the card. Homeland Security aims to convince you by threatening your constituents with a lie: You can’t fly.
 
6)    EXPEDITED RULEMAKING on line 11.26.  Rulemaking is lawmaking by unelected, bureaucrats unaccountable to the public. Expedited rulemaking means that the public will not be able to stop whatever state regulators in collaboration with federal regulators come up with as regulatory “laws.” This bill lacks details that state and federal bureaucrats will fill in with their own agendas. You and your constituents will be powerless.
 
7)    NO LAW MANDATING ID TO FLY: There’s actually no law that mandates an ID for flying. As the attorney for Gilmore in the Gilmore vs. Gonzales case testified before Congress, the ID mandate comes from a “secret law” – a federal document held by TSA that the public is not allowed to see. The 9th circuit court of appeals, which saw the secret document ex parte ruled against Gilmore because the court found that an ID is not a statutory requirement and thus Gilmore could go through the “selectee” process for additional screening. (http://www.fas.org:8080/sgp/congress/2008/043008harrison.pdf)
 
8)    YOU CAN FLY: Furthermore, even if you believe the lie that you need an ID to fly, the TSA admits you don’t need a REAL ID to fly. They provide a list of 15 identification documents that can be combined with our drivers’ license to get all of us on a plane, including the MN Enhanced Drivers’ License, which we already have.
 
9)    REAL-LIFE IMPACT ON MINNESOTANS: Everyone will be forced to get copies of their birth certificates and more -- even if they never plan to enter a federal building or fly.
 
To protect individual freedom and states’ rights, please vote no. Thank you.

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