LANSING – Federal officials have indicated there may be difficulties in revising state driver’s licenses to also act as the federal identification card needed to cross the Canadian and Mexican borders beginning in 2008. But legislators urged officials not to give up.
Sen. Jason Allen (R-Traverse City) and Sen. Jud Gilbert (R-Algonac) introduced resolutions (SR 121 and SCR 43 respectively) calling on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to continue working with states to match driver’s license requirements to the federal ID requirements.
Secretary of State Terri Land had proposed the idea of using driver’s licenses as border cards earlier this year, noting that the new federal requirements for the licenses under the REAL ID Act are not that far from those for a passport.
“Residents in border towns go back and forth for work and recreation,” Allen said. “We don’t need a burden to commerce, but yet we understand the need for greater security measures.”
“Citizens along the U.S./Canadian border are concerned with protecting our country, but they also are concerned with their daily lives being disrupted by being forced to pay for and carry multiple identifications while traveling to Canada,” Gilbert said. “Providing border states the option of developing on identification card would be more user friendly and financially responsible.”
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