State Senate Takes 1st Steps Toward ID Upgrades
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Senate overwhelmingly passed a bill to start planning for high-security Real ID driver's licenses on Monday.
If Minnesota does not comply by 2018, state residents won't be able to use a driver's license to get on commercial aircraft.
Minnesota is currently one of only five states that have refused to comply with Real ID, calling it a government invasion of personal privacy.
But even the bill simply giving permission to start planning still rubs some lawmakers the wrong way.
"What we are losing is another page or two of our personal privacy protection," said Sen. Warren Limmer, R–Maple Grove, "and the right -- the constitutional right -- to be anonymous in our society."
The federal government ordered new security identification after 9/11 as an added safeguard against terrorism.
Minnesotans must provide proof of identity before getting a new license, which would include a card-chip that cannot be duplicated.
"Minnesotans -- Americans -- would be safer if we knew that people who were flying on our airlines were who they said they were," said Sen. Carla Nelson, R–Rochester, "and lived where they said they lived, and are here legally."
The Minnesota Legislature is expected to pass a bill this spring authorizing the design and manufacture of the new high security licenses.
It's expected it will take years to produce Real IDs replacing millions of Minnesota licenses as they expire.