States moving to implement ID card requirements
All states must finish replacing non-compliant licenses by 2013, a task DHS estimates will cost as much as $23 billion.
A senior official at the Homeland Security Department said Monday that he expects as many as 10 states will be compliant by May 2008 with rules mandating nationwide standards for driver's licenses and identification cards.
Assistant Secretary for Policy Development Richard Barth said at the National Association of Attorneys General's winter meeting that although he expects several states will be able to begin issuing licenses compliant with the so-called REAL ID Act by that original deadline, the department prepared for difficulties that states may encounter by offering them until the end of 2009 to begin distributing compliant licenses and ID documents.
All states must finish replacing non-compliant licenses by 2013, a task the department estimated last week will cost as much as $23 billion. More than dozen states are considering legislation to reject REAL ID amid concerns about its cost and how it will affect civil liberties.