Stop RealID!

From Article 2. Franchise and Officers of the Constitution of Virginia as taken from the General Assembly site:

Section 7. Oath or affirmation.
All officers elected or appointed under or pursuant to this Constitution shall, before they enter on the performance of their public duties, severally take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as ...................., according to the best of my ability (so help me God)."

By Jo Whistler  April 10, 2009

After Governor Kaine signed two anti-REAL ID bills, HB 1587 and SB 1431, he returned SB 1046, the REAL ID compliance bill to the Virginia General Assembly with his recommendations. SB 1046 had been neutered, and the matter of the Radio Frequency Identification chips in our new Virginia drivers licenses had been removed. Governor Kaine tried to pull a fast one, and he had the Virginia Senate supporting his recommendations - though by a slim margin.

YEAS--Colgan, Deeds, Edwards, Herring, Houck, Howell, Locke, Lucas, Marsh, McEachin, Miller, J.C., Miller, Y.B., Northam, Petersen, Puckett, Puller, Reynolds, Saslaw, Ticer, Watkins, Whipple--21.

NAYS--Barker, Blevins, Cuccinelli, Hanger, Hurt, Martin, McDougle, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, Quayle, Ruff, Smith, Stolle, Stosch, Stuart, Vogel, Wagner, Wampler--19.

RULE 36--0.

NOT VOTING--0.

However, on VETO Day, April 8, the Virginia House of Delegates stomped all over the governor's plan to impose REAL ID on Virginians. The House had its own Tea Party going on, and voted against the governor's recommendations for SB 1046 67 to 32.

YEAS--Alexander, Amundson, Armstrong, BaCote, Barlow, Brink, Caputo, Dance, Ebbin, Eisenberg, Hall, Herring, Howell, A.T., Marsden, McClellan, McQuinn, Melvin, Miller, P.J., Morrissey, Plum, Poisson, Scott, J.M., Shuler, Sickles, Spruill, Toscano, Tyler, Valentine, Vanderhye, Ward, Ware, O., Watts--32.

NAYS--Abbitt, Albo, Athey, Bell, Bouchard, Bowling, Bulova, Byron, Carrico, Cline, Cole, Cosgrove, Cox, Crockett-Stark, Englin, Fralin, Frederick, Gilbert, Griffith, Hamilton, Hargrove, Hogan, Hugo, Hull, Iaquinto, Ingram, Janis, Joannou, Johnson, Jones, Kilgore, Knight, Landes, Lewis, Lingamfelter, Lohr, Loupassi, Marshall, D.W., Marshall, R.G., Massie, Mathieson, May, Merricks, Miller, J.H., Morgan, Nichols, Nixon, Nutter, O'Bannon, Oder, Orrock, Peace, Phillips, Pogge, Poindexter, Pollard, Purkey, Putney, Rust, Saxman, Scott, E.T., Shannon, Sherwood, Tata, Ware, R.L., Wright, Mr. Speaker--67.

ABSTENTIONS--0.

NOT VOTING--Gear--1.

Thank these folks in elected office who stood up for the people of Virginia against  REAL ID!

Monday, March 30, 2009.

Governor Kaine approved Delegate Bob Marshall's HB 1587.

Governor Kaine approved Senator Ken Cuccinelli's SB 1431.

To withhold certain highway funds if a State does not comply with certain requirements in issuing a driver’s license or identification card, and for other purposes.

Thanks to Center for Democracy and Technology 

Privacy & Security Concerns

• Mandating that each state create a database without statutory limitations on what information can be placed in the database (i.e., in a person’s record), including source documents [§202(d)(13)]
• Mandating that each state give every other state “electronic access” to the database (i.e., people’s records) with the ostensible but unstated limited purpose of ensuring that no driver holds more than one license and without a limitation on creating a central ID database [§202(d)(12)
• Mandating that each state give every other state “electronic access” to the database (i.e.,
  people’s records) and without statutory limitations on what information can be shared between states and for what purposes; who else (e.g., other state agencies, federal agencies, thirdparties) can access the databases and for what purposes [§202(d)(12)]
• Moving states toward digitally copying all highly-sensitive source documents (e.g., birth certificate, Social Security Card, passport, utility bill) and housing them in a database; and without statutory limitations on who can access them and for what purposes [§202(d)(2)]
• Mandating that states “verify” source documents without statutory limitations related to the collection and sharing of personal information, by whom and for what purposes [§202(c)(3)(A)]
• Mandating that each card have Machine Readable Technology (MRT); and without statutory limitations on what information is stored in the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ), who can “skim” information from the MRZ (e.g., state agencies, federal agencies, third-parties) and for what purposes; and without statutory security requirements such as encryption [§202(b)(9)]
• No statutory limitations on “official purpose” [§202(a)(1)]
• No statutory clarity on whether driver’s license/ID card number will be unique within a state or across the nation [§202(b)(4)]

NOTE: There are portions of the Act with which the CDT does agree. 

See the RealID One Pager .

Click one of the organizations below and read its statement against REAL ID.  

Organizations opposed to REAL ID include but are not limited to

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons * 

American Civil Liberties Union  * 

American Library Association * 

Center for Democracy and Technology  * 

Citizens Against Government Waste   * 

Downsize DC  * 

Electronic Frontier Foundation  * 

Electronic Privacy Information Center  * 

Privacy Activism   * 

Privacy Coalition  * 

World Privacy Forum

Read the American Bar Association's letter opposing REAL ID in Letters and statements of Documents and flyers section