Editorial: Do Real ID deadlines really matter?
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In a move that should surprise no one, the government has once again called a timeout on requirements for Real ID.
On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security pushed back the deadline for getting the enhanced identification cards needed for getting on a plane or gaining access to a federal courthouse. The date had been May 2023. Now it’s May 2025.
The reason, DHS says, is to give states more time to put the cards in place.
If this sounds familiar, that means you are paying attention. This game has been going on for a long time.
It started in 2005. That’s when the law was passed in Congress, setting the process in motion, a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Then there were years of hemming and hawing and challenges from various states — including Pennsylvania — that were resisting the added layers of responsibility.
For more than a decade, deadlines have approached with PennDOT issuing warnings to residents about the importance of getting a Real ID, which is just an added layer of verification on the state-issued drivers licenses and nondriver identification cards.
For just as long, the line has moved like the horizon as it was approached. A few months here, a year there.
The continued delays don’t just undermine the messaging. They also contradict it.
A deadline is about urgency. It is a stern parental warning to clean up your room or be grounded. Between state and federal governments, Americans are getting mixed messages.
More than 1.3 million Real ID cards were issued by PennDOT as of February 2021. Pennsylvania has more than 9.1 million licensed drivers, not counting nondriver identifications. According to the numbers, comparatively few people are paying the added $30 fee for a Real ID.
Perhaps that is because, despite the warnings, it’s hard to believe that deadline is going to arrive.
In two years, when the Real ID Act is facing its 20th birthday, one of two things is going to happen: PennDOT and DHS could once again urge people to get the enhanced identification, lest they not be able to fly to Las Vegas for the weekend or visit the federal courthouse in Pittsburgh. Or the deadline might get moved six months.
Again.