Cost of Real ID $8 Million Lower Than Expected

Apr 18, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler

(KCPW News) The Driver License Division estimates the cost of implementing the controversial Real ID Act of 2005 will be significantly lower than previously thought. Division Chief Nannette Rolfe says the state must decide soon whether to allocate the additional $3 million her department needs to issue new Utah licenses that comply with the act.

"And so what we're hoping for, is this next interim session we are going through and throughout the next year, we will be able to get some guidance," Rolfe says, "so that in 2009 we could actually get legislative approval if that's the direction the state chooses to go."

Recent tweaks to the legislation stripped $8 million from the cost of implementing the program. The Department of Homeland Security altered the timeline for implementing the program. Initially Rolfe estimated her department would need to hire an additional 100 workers and run two shifts per day in order to hit the 34 month deadline. With more time to comply, Rolfe says these changes aren't necessary. Left over is the cost of new scanners and computer equipment to process and store additional personal information the federal law requires. The state received an extension to postpone implementation to December 31, 2009. If the state chooses not to allocate the funds for the new licenses, there will be consequences. These won't affect the state, she says. But they will impact its residents.

"The current driver license that we issue will not be accepted for federal purposes," Rolfe says. "The ones they've named specific, are to flyon any domestic airline, to get into a nuclear facility, or any other federal facility that requires identification."

Thirteen states have passed legislation refusing to comply with the act. Five more have similar legislation pending. North Ogden Representative Glenn Donnelson proposed a bill last session to bar the state from complying with the Real ID Act. It failed in the House.

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