Why Your Illinois Drivers License Might Not Work At The Airport This Summer
By Mae Rice in News on Dec 28, 2015 4:48PM
Updated at 1 p.m.: If all the states were teenagers, Illinois would be the (not legally) stoned teen in an Insane Clown Posse shirt yelling “Shut up dad! I don’t need your ‘police accountability’ and your ‘state budgets’ and your ‘valid driver’s licenses.’”
We knew most of that already, but in a new development, Illinois drivers’ licenses won’t be considered valid at the federal level, starting in 2016.
This may prevent locals from getting into federal facilities—like government buildings, or nuclear power plants—with just their driver’s licenses. It may also mean that we have to go through extra steps at airport security.
It's unclear when these ID restrictions will begin. Secretary of State Dave Druker told Chicagoist that added airport security measures would go into effect in summer of 2016 at the earliest, but that Homeland Security hasn’t shared its exact timetable with Illinois officials.
Illinois has been postponing compliance with federal ID laws for a decade, since Congress passed a 2005 law that required more rigorous proof of U.S. residency to obtain U.S. ID. Dubbed “The Real ID Act,” the legislation was based on recommendations from the 9/11 Commission.
Ever since, Illinois has gotten extensions on fully complying with the law, but the Department of Homeland Security turned down the state’s latest request.
Druker views this as “misguided and shortsighted.”
“We've met 84 percent of what they were looking for,” he said. "We were just asking for a one-year extension."
He added that compliance will be expensive. “It’s an unfunded mandate,” he said—one that would cost the state up to $60 million.
That price tag would cover a subscription to a federal database of birth certificates, equipment changes, and other government process tweaks, Druker said. For instance: “When [you] come to the DMV, [Homeland Security wants] the picture to be the first thing you do. Right now, it's the last thing you do. So that means reorganizing the 138 facilities we have [in Illinois]."
To start complying with the federal regulations, the Illinois Assembly will have to pass legislation and get funds appropriated to see it through, Druker said. “We’re nowhere doing that," he told ABC 7.