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

Only 8 States with Laws Prohibiting REAL ID Have Residents’ Best Interests at Heart

***NEWS RELEASE***

For Immediate Release

May 23, 2016
 
CONTACT:
Deborah Hamilton, Hamilton Strategies, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, ext. 102, or Beth Harrison, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, Media@HamiltonStrategies.com
 
Only 8 States with Laws Prohibiting REAL ID
Have Residents’ Best Interests at Heart
 
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom: National ID System
Gives Federal Government Access to the Documents of All; Will Impact
Buying, Selling, Traveling, Health Care and More
       
ST. PAUL, Minn.—Eight states have gotten the message that REAL ID is a harmful government intrusion on their states’ residents—and have taken action to enact laws prohibiting REAL ID to protect their people.
 
Alaska, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Carolina all prohibit REAL ID and are the only states with their residents’ best interests at heart, says Twila Brase, president and co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org), which staunchly opposes the Obama administration’s new push to implement a national ID card. CCHF is educating Americans and lawmakers about the dangers of this initiative, including the half-truths proponents are telling in order to advance their agenda.
 
 
“The eight states that have taken action to prohibit REAL ID are well aware of the serious violation REAL ID is of states’ rights and the 10th Amendment,” Brase said. “Under the REAL ID Act, the federal government would take control of all Americans’ identification documents and could require REAL ID to be used for all sorts of purposes beyond access to federal buildings and commercial flights without further authority from Congress. Imagine the federal government requiring the REAL ID card for renting a car, going through a tollbooth, buying wine and beer and guns, and so much more, including access to medical care. In short, no card, no care.”
 
Freedom from REAL ID, however, is in jeopardy in CCHF’s home state of Minnesota, where lawmakers last week debated details of a final bill, after first passing a bill that would force REAL ID on Minnesotans. That measure would override a 2009 law prohibiting REAL ID in the state. Lawmakers faced a deadline of Sunday at midnight to reach a decision, and the bill failed due to conference committee disagreements over how to resolve differences in the House and Senate bills.
 
The remaining states of the union are either compliant or non-compliant with REAL ID. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) communicates which states are compliant, which have extensions and which are non-compliant. View the status of states here.
 
CCHF—a national patient-centered health freedom organization existing to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights—has a section of its website dedicated to REAL ID, mainly the misconceptions about the national ID system, which CCHF fears could turn into a National Patient ID with a “no card, no care” mantra. Also online are CCHF’s “17 Facts About REAL ID”
 
Among the myths and empty threats surrounding REAL ID is the fact that there are no penalties or enforcement procedures to secure REAL ID compliance. But late last year DHS issued a warning stating that non-compliant drivers’ licenses would no longer be accepted for domestic air travel starting in January 2016. The intent was to scare the public, according to CCHF, but when state legislators didn’t jump into conforming activities, DHS extended the deadline to Jan. 22, 2018, with a stated prohibition on flying in 2020.
 
“In actuality,” Brase adds, “the law is designed to centralize American ID documents into a single pointer database—a “hub” with the information of all Americans accessible to all 50 state agencies. Biometrics are recorded and linked to Americans’ ID, and all required personal identifiable information and documents will be scanned and stored—a hacker’s paradise!”
 
For more information about CCHF, visit its web site at www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cchfreedom or its Twitter feed, @CCHFreedom.
 
Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, a patient-centered national health freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minn., exists to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. CCHF sponsors the daily, 60-second radio feature, Health Freedom Minute, which airs on more than 400 stations nationwide, including nearly 200 on the American Family Radio Network and 100 on the Bott Radio Network. Listeners can learn more about the agenda behind health care initiatives and steps they can take to protect their health care choices, rights and privacy. For information on how to add “Health Freedom Minute” to a station lineup, contact Michael Hamilton at mhamilton@hamiltonstrategies.com, (610) 584-1096 or (215) 519-4838.
 
CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase, R.N., has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” A public health nurse, Brase has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. She is at the forefront of informing the public of crucial health issues, such as intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in Obamacare, patient privacy, informed consent, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine” and the implications of state and federal health care reform.

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