House GOP 9/11 police state bill has backdoor National IDs

Liberty Think | September 27 2004

The U.S. House leadership Friday unveiled their version of the 9/11 police state bill [PDF]. Here are the key excerpts regarding the turning of state drivers licenses into National ID cards, via No National ID blogspot September 25, 2004:
SEC. 3052. MINIMUM DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS AND ISSUANCE STANDARDS FOR FEDERAL RECOGNITION.

(1) IN GENERAL.--Beginning 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, a Federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a driver's license or identification card issued by a State to any person unless the State is meeting the requirements of this section.

[..]

(b) MINIMUM DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS.--To meet the requirements of this section, a State shall include, at a minimum, the following information and features on each driver's license and identification card issued to a person by the State:
(1) The person's full legal name.
(2) The person's date of birth.
(3) The person's gender.
(4) The person's driver license or identification card number.
(5) A photograph of the person.
(6) The person's address of principal residence.
(7) The person's signature.
(8) Physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for
fraudulent purposes.
(9) A common machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements.
(c) MINIMUM ISSUANCE STANDARDS.--(1) IN GENERAL.--To meet the requirements of this section, a State shall require, at a minimum, presentation and verification of the following information before issuing a driver's license or identification card to a person: (A) A photo identity document, except that a non photo identity document is acceptable if it includes both the person's full legal name and date of birth.
(B) Documentation showing the person's date of birth.
(C) Proof of the person's social security account number or verification that the person is not eligible for a social security account number.
(D) Documentation showing the person's name and address of principal residence.
(2) VERIFICATION OF DOCUMENTS.'To meet the requirements of this section, a State shall implement the following procedures:
(A) Before issuing a driver's license or identification card to a person, the State shall verify, with the issuing agency, the issuance, validity, and completeness of each document required to be presented by the person under paragraph (1).
(B) The State shall not accept any foreign document, other than an official passport, to satisfy a requirement of paragraph (1).

(d) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.--To meet the requirements of this section, a State shall adopt the following practices in the issuance of drivers' licenses and identification cards:
(1) Employ technology to capture digital images of identity source documents so that the images can be retained in electronic storage in a transferable format.
(2) Retain paper copies of source documents for a minimum of 7 years or images of source documents presented for a minimum of 10 years.
(3) Subject each person applying for a driver's license or identification card to mandatory facial image capture.

[..]

(6) Refuse to issue a driver's license or identification card to a person holding a driver's license issued by an other State without confirmation that the person is terminating or has terminated the driver's license.
[..]

SEC. 3053. LINKING OF DATABASES.
(a) IN GENERAL.--To be eligible to receive any grant or other type of financial assistance made available under this subtitle, a State shall participate in the interstate compact regarding sharing of driver license data, known as the ''Driver License Agreement'', in order to provide electronic access by a State to information contained in the motor vehicle databases of all other States.
(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR INFORMATION.--A State motor vehicle database shall contain, at a minimum, the following information:
(1) All data fields printed on drivers' licenses and identification cards issued by the State.
(2) Motor vehicle drivers' histories, including motor vehicle violations, suspensions, and points on licenses.
This seems marginally better than the ID provisions McCain-Lieberman bill in the Senate, in that it is not explicitly part of a biometric checkpoint system. But the highlighted text suggests facial biometrics nonetheless. And the linking of all the databases is troublesome.

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