Real ID study bill passed, as amended, by House

State officials could soon begin planning how to meet strengthened, decade-old federal standards for state-issued identification.

The House on Tuesday evening voted 125-2 to pass an amended version of HF1732/SF1646*, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Smith (R-Maple Grove) and Sen. D. Scott Dibble (DFL-Mpls), that would repeal a state prohibition preventing state agencies from planning how to comply with the federal Real ID law and require the Department of Public Safety to deliver a report to the Legislature on its findings by April 14.

Because lawmakers adopted an amendment on the House Floor that would push back the deadline for the department report from March 31, the amended bill must now return to the Senate for consideration. Smith said the new date has the support of Dibble, Gov. Mark Dayton and the Public Safety Department.

Minnesota is one of the few remaining states that has not received an extension from the Department of Homeland Security nor yet complied with the Real ID act — passed by Congress in 2005 — that set tougher minimum security standards for issuing licenses in response to terrorism-related security concerns.

WATCH Floor debate of the bill on YouTube

MORE What is Real ID?

Already, Minnesotans without an enhanced ID can’t gain access to secure federal facilities using only their non-compliant state-issued ID. If still non-compliant by January 2018, Minnesotans would also be barred from boarding commercial domestic flights using only their state IDs while passing through security.

“This bill allows us to get on the (path) to be federally compliant,” Smith said. “Our citizens need to fly, our citizens need to visit loved ones at military bases and our loved ones need to get into federal buildings to conduct business.”

Second bill needed

The bill would also direct the public safety commissioner to request an extension from the federal Department of Homeland Security that would allow Minnesotans to enter federal facilities and military bases with their state-issued IDs while progress is made on becoming compliant.

“If the federal government sees us moving in the right direction and making progress” lawmakers are confident federal officials will grant an extension, House Speaker Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) said during a news conference earlier Tuesday.

A second bill later this session would be needed to put the necessary changes in place, with a goal of issuing compliant IDs by October 1, Smith said, when a new license renewal cycle begins.

Smith said lawmakers would begin working on that language shortly, likely even before the Department of Public Safety.

Since lawmakers voted to bar state agencies from planning to comply with Real ID in 2009, opponents of the federal law and privacy advocates have expressed concern that federal officials would expand the scope of Real ID, or maintain a national ID database.

Rep. Carlos Mariani (DFL-St. Paul), though saying he would support the bill, reiterated those concerns on the floor, calling Real ID a “federal takeover” of state-issued IDs and said Minnesota is “being coerced by the federal government” into compliance.

Other critics of the bill voiced their displeasure that the Legislature hasn’t moved fast enough on getting in line with the identification requirements.

“All this (bill) does,” Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) said, “is allow for more planning and talking.”