Wallingford, other senators push Mo. AG to fight REAL ID law

State Sen. Wayne Wallingford and eight other senators want Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley to fight enforcement of the federal REAL ID law.

The senators made their request in a Feb. 14 letter to Hawley.

A number of state House lawmakers made the same appeal in a similar letter received at the same time, said Loree Ann Paradise, Hawley’s deputy chief of staff.

“We are reviewing the matter,” Paradise said Tuesday.

Paradise said she did not know how many lawmakers had signed the House letter.

The REAL ID law was enacted in 2005 to guard against a future terrorist attack such as the one that occurred Sept. 11, 2001.

It requires all states to adopt uniform security procedures for driver’s licenses and other government-issued identity cards.

But Wallingford, a Cape Girardeau Republican, contends the law violates the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

He and the other lawmakers object to provisions requiring Missouri to keep databases of personal documents such as birth certificates and marriage licenses.

“I think the REAL ID Act sets a dangerous precedent,” Wallingford said.

“I just don’t like the federal government keeping and retaining data on private citizens.”

Among other things, the law requires identification cards such as driver’s licenses to incorporate added security features including computer chips or machine-readable technology that can be used to pull up biographical or biometric data to prevent tampering, counterfeiting or duplication.

As of Jan. 30, Missouri was one of five states that have failed to comply with the law, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website.

If they don’t comply, residents of those states will not be able to fly or visit military installations as of Jan. 22, 2018, without passports or valid military photo IDs, federal officials have warned.

Some Missouri lawmakers are pushing legislation that would bring the state into compliance with federal law.

One bill would allow each Missourian to choose whether to obtain a

REAL-compliant driver’s license or keep the existing license, a system several states have adopted.

But the letter from the nine senators argues against compliance.

The letter states the REAL ID Act “sets a dangerous precedent to empower a bureaucracy to unilaterally promulgate rules that prohibit our citizens from enjoying rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”

The letter points out a Missouri law, enacted in 2009, forbids the state from complying with the REAL ID Act.

In 2013, Missouri lawmakers passed legislation signed by Gov. Jay Nixon that prohibits the Department of Revenue from retaining “source documents” used to obtain driver’s licenses.

Wallingford said Missouri voters have made it clear they want their personal information protected.

Voters approved a state constitutional amendment in 2014 “to ensure their personal privacy was not violated by our government,” Wallingford and the other senators said in their letter.

“It is abundantly clear the people of Missouri want their privacy; they do not want arbitrary conditions set forth by the government under the guise of security,” the senators wrote.

The senators urged Hawley to “protect the liberty of Missouri citizens from the ‘submit or else’ condition imposed by the federal government.”

mbliss@semissourian.com

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