A diverse coalition that includes the American Civil Liberties Union, the Eagle Forum and other conservative groups, the National Conference of State Legislatures and a number of Hispanic organizations is lobbying against a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulation that the groups say would create a national identity card.
The regulation, which implements a provision in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, would require states to collect Social Security numbers from applicants for driver's licenses, check their authenticity with the Social Security Administration and then put the numbers on the licenses. The regulations, critics say, would violate privacy rights, trample on federalism and cost the states millions of dollars annually.
The regulation is supposed to make it harder for undocumented immigrants to obtain federal benefits by using phony driver's licenses. Unless Congress repeals the provision, all 50 states would be required to implement the new rules by Oct. 1, 2000.
At a recent Capitol Hill press conference, Sheila Moloney, the executive director of the Eagle Forum; Gregory T. Nojeim, an ACLU legislative counsel; Grover G. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform; and Connecticut state Rep. Brian J. Flaherty, who was representing the NCSL, said linking Social Security numbers to driver's licenses amounts to a Big Brother attack on privacy.
The regulation, Nojeim said, "would mark the first time in history that the federal government required that the Social Security number of virtually every adult be tied to a physical description or photograph." A criminal who knows your name and Social Security number, he added, can use them to obtain credit cards and even loans. The NHTSA regulation would make "identity theft" easier to perpetrate, Nojeim said.
NHTSA has underestimated how much it would cost the states to implement the regulation, Flaherty said. Using numbers from Delaware, Iowa, Montana, Utah and Wisconsin, the federal agency projected that in the first year the cost for all states combined would be between $24.8 million and $72.6 million. But given the relatively small populations of these five states, he added, they are not representative. The actual expenditures, he predicted, would exceed the $100 million limit on regulatory costs that Congress can impose on the states under the 1995 Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
That argument was echoed in a letter to House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., from the Coalition for Constitutional Liberties, a group of conservative organizations, spearheaded by the Free Congress Foundation, that say they are concerned about the privacy implications of the NHTSA regulation.
At the press briefing, the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic organization, said in a statement that a national ID card could be used to discriminate against legal immigrants.
All these arguments have attracted the attention of lawmakers. After the Sept. 17 press conference, the House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee on National Economic Growth, Natural Resources and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing on the issue. Subcommittee chairman David McIntosh, R-Ind., criticized the NHTSA proposal: "Many states are aware of these privacy concerns and are changing their laws so citizens do not have to include their Social Security numbers [to get a driver's license]. This regulation moves in the opposite direction." Only six states currently require that the Social Security number be displayed on driver's licenses. McIntosh supports a proposal by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, to repeal the regulation.
Opponents of illegal immigration, however, still support the regulation. Daniel A. Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said the real purpose of the regulation is not to invade privacy, but "to stop illegal aliens from getting jobs and welfare."
John H. Strandquist, president of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a state group that helped draft the federal regulations, also expressed support. Putting Social Security numbers on driver's licenses will make them more tamper-resistant, he said.
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