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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR M. Sanchez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/2007

1/31/2007 HB

SHORT TITLE Oppose Creation of National I.D. Card

SB SJM 11

ANALYST Schuss

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Joint Memorial 11 opposes the creation of a national identification card and the

implementation of the Real ID Act of 2005.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The State of New Mexico recognizes the constitution of the United States as our charter of

liberty and the bill of rights as affirming the fundamental and inalienable rights of Americans,

including freedom of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches. New Mexico has a

diverse population whose contributions are vital to the state’s economy, culture and civic

character. New Mexico is proud of its tradition of protecting the civil rights and liberties of all its

residents, affirming the fundamental rights of all people and providing more expansive

protections than are granted by the United States constitution. The State of New Mexico

denounces terrorism in all its forms and condemns all acts of terrorism by any entity, wherever

the acts occur, and any new security measures to protect from terrorist attacks should be

carefully designed to enhance public safety without infringing on the civil liberties and rights of

citizens.

The federal REAL ID Act of 2005, Public Law 109-13, creates a national identification card by

mandating federal standards for state driver’s licenses and identification cards and requiring

Senate Joint Memorial 11 – Page

2

states to share their motor vehicle databases. The REAL ID Act mandates the documents that

states must require to issue driver’s licenses and requires states to place uniform information on

every driver’s license in a standard, machine-readable format, and it prohibits federal agencies

and federally regulated commercial aircraft from accepting a driver’s license or identification

card issued by a state that has not fully complied with the act. The Act places a costly unfunded

mandate on states, with initial estimates for New Mexico of more than thirty-seven million

dollars ($37,000,000) over five years and national estimates of more than eleven billion dollars

($11,000,000,000) over the next five years. The Act requires the creation of a massive public

sector database containing information on every American that is accessible to all motor vehicle

employees and law enforcement officers nationwide and that can be used to gather and manage

information on citizens, and this is not the business or responsibility of government. The REAL

ID Act enables the creation of additional massive private sector databases, combining both

transactional information and driver’s license information gained from scanning the machine-

readable information contained on every driver’s license. These public and private databases are

likely to contain numerous errors and false information, creating significant hardship for

Americans attempting to verify their identities in order to fly, open a bank account or perform

any of the numerous functions required to live in the United States today.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that ten million Americans are victims of identity theft

annually, and, because identity thieves are increasingly targeting motor vehicle departments, the

REAL ID Act will enable the crime of identity theft by making the personal information of all

Americans, including date of birth and signature, accessible from tens of thousands of locations.

The REAL ID Act requires a driver’s license to contain a person’s actual home address and

makes no exception for individuals in potential danger, such as undercover law enforcement or

victims of stalking or criminal harassment, and the Act contains onerous record verification and

retention provisions that place unreasonable burdens on the motor vehicle division and on third

parties required to verify records.

The REAL ID Act will place enormous burdens on consumers seeking new driver’s licenses

such as longer lines, higher costs, increased document requests and a waiting period. The Act

will place state motor vehicle staff on the front lines of immigration enforcement by forcing state

employees to determine federal citizenship and immigration status, excessively burdening both

foreign-born applicants and motor vehicle staff.

The REAL ID Act passed without sufficient deliberation by congress and did not receive a

hearing by any congressional committee or a vote solely on its own merits, despite opposition

from more than six hundred organizations. The Act eliminated a process of negotiated

rulemaking initiated under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which

had convened federal, state and local policymakers, privacy advocates and industry experts to

solve the problem of the misuse of identity documents. The Act provides little security benefit

and leaves identification systems open to insider fraud, counterfeit documentation and database

failures.

Be it resolved by the legislature of the State of New Mexico that it support the government of the

United States in its campaign against terrorism, while affirming the commitment of the United

States that the campaign not be waged at the expense of the essential civil rights and liberties of

the citizens of this country. The policy of the state of New Mexico is to oppose any portion of the

REAL ID Act that violates the rights and liberties guaranteed under the constitutions of New

Mexico or the United States, including the bill of rights. Be it further resolved that the New

Mexico legislature enact no legislation nor authorize an appropriation to further the passage of

the REAL ID Act in New Mexico, unless such appropriation is used exclusively for the purpose

Senate Joint Memorial 11 – Page

3

of undertaking a comprehensive analysis of the costs of implementing the REAL ID Act or to

mount a constitutional challenge to the act by the state attorney general. The New Mexico

legislature urges the New Mexico congressional delegation to support measures to repeal the

REAL ID Act.

BS/nt