Real ID fix inches closer at Minnesota Capitol, but who'll pay?

Legislation to bring Minnesota in line with new federal driver's license security standards is primed for a vote in the state Senate Thursday, although lawmakers remain squeamish about asking Minnesotans to shoulder the cost.

The bill would pave the way to convert as many as 4 million licenses and state IDs to bring Minnesota into compliance with the federal Real ID law.

Minnesota is one of a handful of states out of compliance with the law. Federal authorities have warned that if the state didn't convert, Minnesotans would not be allowed to use their driver's licenses as identification when boarding domestic flights.

While there's action now at the Legislature — a different version of the bill will come up for a vote in the state House in coming days — the timeline remains in limbo.

There has been talk about phasing in the new cards beginning in this October, so everyone would just renew as their old license expired. That remains the goal in the House version.

But Minnesota's Driver and Vehicle Services Division is also in the midst of replacing the computer system it uses to process licenses. To reprogram the current mainframe system to handle Real ID would cost millions and put programmers under a time crunch.

So senators responded to agency's concerns and in their bill would wait until the new registration system is up and running. That would push the introduction of Real ID out to January 2018.

There's a hitch with that approach: The upgraded licenses will be required for boarding commercial aircraft as soon as 2018, a deadline that might get extended to 2020. Still, it means anyone who gets a standard card between October and the Real ID rollout would have to go back to the renewal counter sooner.

As it now stands, people in that position would do so at personal expense. Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, said he suspects that won't go over well.

"You realize how many phone calls we're going to get when people have to pay twice, don't you?" Tomassoni asked Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, author of the Real ID compliance bill.

"Unless we pick up that cost for them," Dibble responded. "That's a decision we need to make."

He later elaborated, "People will be put to that that full expense on an earlier than four-year cycle. So if you have a certain type of license it's as much as $35. If you have another type of license, it's a $17 expense."

Some legislators have raised the idea of a rebate program or pursuing federal grant dollars. But nothing is concrete.

Beneath the discussion of dollars is continued resentment among some legislators that Minnesota has to make the switch.

In 2009, the Legislature passed a law prohibiting even planning for Real ID. That law was repealed earlier this year as legislators heard from nervous constituents that resisting the federal requirement would complicate travel and visits to secure federal buildings.

Under both House and Senate bills, license holders would have the power to opt out of the program. But that refusal would be stamped on their licenses. And it'd be up to them to find another way past airport checkpoints.

No one will be required to get a Real ID, but the expectation is that many people will, said Rep. Dennis Smith, R-Maple Grove, the House bill's sponsor.

"Once implemented," he said, "you would be able to get a federal Real ID compliant license so you could fly, go into federal buildings and go into federal military bases or you have the option of having the same license that you have today."

Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, remains miffed by it all. He said he worries federal Homeland Security officials will expand the scope of the Real ID program once all states are finally on board.

"I think it's important that we as a state considering whether we want to join the federal government in this regard," Limmer said. "I hope we understand really what we are allowing ourselves to get into and how we're subrogating our authority to a political appointee in the federal government."