Cato@Liberty.org 
Mickey McCarter at Homeland Security Today has the scoop on REAL ID grants that the Department of Homeland Security is doling out today.Yes, REAL ID grants. Ten states have passed legislation to bar themselves from participating. (Arizona was the most recent.) And many more have registered their objections to the national ID law. But the Department of Homeland Security is still trying to revive it — this time, by spreading a little money around.What’s “a little money”? The estimated $85 million in grants is about 0.5% of the $17 billion that it would cost to implement REAL ID, so it’s just a little. But that’s $85 million that taxpayers won’t be getting back.It’s interesting to see where the money is going, of course.

The breakdown of awards, obtained by HSToday.us, signifies thatAAMVA effectively gains a no-bid contract under the awards, as DHS designates it the sole national centralized database of driver’s license information under REAL ID through a grant award to the state of Missouri. . . . . A competitive grant process could have resulted in multiple hub awards instead of a sole-source contract to AAMVA, sources argue, decentralizing REAL ID information somewhat and encouraging the rise of the most effective database solution between competing vendors.

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Ryan Singel | wired.com 

For a short moment Thursday, millions of Californians were in danger of facing pat-downs at the airport and being blocked from federal buildings come May 11.

In a Tuesday letter (.pdf) to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, the head of California’s DMV said that while California had already applied for and gotten an extension on the Real ID deadline, it wasn’t actually committing to complying with Real ID rules by 2010. That’s when states who ask for extension have to begin issuing driver’s licenses and state IDs that comply with the federal rules.

“California’s request for an extension is not a commitment to implement Real ID, rather it will allow us to fully evaluate the impact of the final regulations and precede with necessary policy deliberations prior to a final decision on compliance,” DMV director George Valverde wrote.

States have until March 31 to request a two-year extension, and DHS had said before Thursday it won’t grant Real ID extensions to states who don’t commit to implementing the rules in the future.

That meant Tuesday’s letter looked like enough to join California to the small rebellion against the Real ID rules.

For Californians that would mean enduring the same fate facing citizens of South Carolina, Maine, Montana and New Hampshire.

They would have needed to dig out their passport, if they had one, every time they boarded a plane, or go through an extra level of TSA screening at airport metal detectors. Los Angeles and San Francisco airports could have had security lines stretching to the Sierras.

Californians would also have been barred from buying certain medicine, entering federal court buildings or getting help at the Social Security Administration, unless they have a passport.

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By Ryan Singel | wired.com

Montana governor Brian Schweitzer (D) declared independence Friday from federal identification rules and called on governors of 17 other states to join him in forcing a showdown with the federal government which says it will not accept the driver’s licenses of rebel states’ citizens starting May 11.

If that showdown comes to pass, a resident of a non-complying state could not use a driver’s license to enter a federal courthouse or a Social Security Administration building nor could he board a plane without undergoing a pat-down search, possibly creating massive backlogs at the nation’s airports and almost certainly leading to a flurry of federal lawsuits.

States have until May 11 to request extensions to the Real ID rulesthat were released last Friday. They require states to make all current identification holders under the age of 50 to apply again with certified birth and marriage certificates. The rules also standardize license formats, require states to interlink their DMV databases and require DMV employee to undergo background checks.

Extensions push back the 2008 deadline for compliance as far as out 2014 if states apply and promise to start work on making the necessary changes, which will cost cash-strapped states billions with only a pittance in federal funding to offset the costs.

Last year Montana passed a law saying it would not comply, citing privacy, states’ rights and fiscal issues. 

In his letter (.pdf) to other governors, Schweitzer makes clear he’s not going to ask for an extension.

“Today, I am asking you to join with me in resisting the DHS coercion to comply with the provisions of REAL ID, ” Schweitzer wrote. “If we stand together either DHS will blink or Congress will have to act to avoid havoc at our nation’s airports and federal courthouses.”

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