II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 717 

To repeal title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005, to restore section 7212 

of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which 

provides States additional regulatory flexibility and funding authorization 

to more rapidly produce tamper- and counterfeit-resistant driver’s licenses, and to protect privacy and civil liberties by providing interested 

stakeholders on a negotiated rulemaking with guidance to achieve improved 21st century licenses to improve national security. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2007 

Mr. AKAKA (for himself, Mr. SUNUNU, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To repeal title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005, to restore 

section 7212 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism 

Prevention Act of 2004, which provides States additional 

regulatory flexibility and funding authorization to more 

rapidly produce tamper- and counterfeit-resistant driver’s 

licenses, and to protect privacy and civil liberties by 

providing interested stakeholders on a negotiated rulemaking with guidance to achieve improved 21st century 

licenses to improve national security. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Identification Security 

3 Enhancement Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REPEAL. 

5 Title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (division B of 

6 Public Law 109–13; 49 U.S.C. 30301 note) is repealed. 

7 SEC. 3. DRIVER’S LICENSES AND PERSONAL IDENTIFICA8 TION CARDS. 

9 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

10 (1) DRIVER’S LICENSE.—The term ‘‘driver’s li11 cense’’ means a motor vehicle operator’s license (as 

12 defined in section 30301(5) of title 49, United 

13 States Code). 

14 (2) PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD.—The 

15 term ‘‘personal identification card’’ means an identi16 fication document (as defined in section 1028(d)(3) 

17 of title 18, United States Code) issued by a State. 

18 (b) STANDARDS FOR ACCEPTANCE BY FEDERAL

19 AGENCIES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

21 (A) LIMITATION ON ACCEPTANCE.—No 

22 Federal agency may accept, for any official pur23 pose, a driver’s license or personal identification 

24 card newly issued by a State more than 2 years 

25 after the promulgation of the minimum stand26 ards under paragraph (2) unless the driver’s liVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:15 Mar 03, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S717.IS S717

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1 cense or personal identification card conforms 

2 to such minimum standards. 

3 (B) DATE FOR FULL CONFORMANCE.— 

4 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

5 under clause (ii), beginning on the date 

6 that is 5 years after the promulgation of 

7 minimum standards under paragraph (2), 

8 no Federal agency may accept, for any of9 ficial purpose, a driver’s license or personal 

10 identification card issued by a State unless 

11 such driver’s license or personal identifica12 tion card conforms to such minimum 

13 standards. 

14 (ii) ALTERNATIVE DATE FOR FULL

15 CONFORMANCE.—If the Secretary deter16 mines that it is impracticable for States to 

17 replace all State-issued driver’s licenses 

18 and personal identification cards before the 

19 deadline set forth in clause (i), the Sec20 retary, in consultation with the Secretary 

21 of Transportation, may set a later, alter22 native deadline to the extent necessary for 

23 States to complete such replacement with 

24 reasonable efforts. 

25 (C) STATE CERTIFICATION.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall 

2 certify to the Secretary that the State is in 

3 compliance with the requirements of this 

4 section. 

5 (ii) FREQUENCY.—Certifications 

6 under clause (i) shall be made at such in7 tervals and in such a manner as the Sec8 retary, with the concurrence of the Sec9 retary of Transportation, may prescribe by 

10 regulation. 

11 (iii) AUDITS.—The Secretary may 

12 conduct periodic audits of each State’s 

13 compliance with the requirements of this 

14 section. 

15 (2) MINIMUM STANDARDS.—Not later than 12 

16 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

17 the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

18 Transportation, shall by regulation, establish by 

19 minimum standards for driver’s licenses or personal 

20 identification cards issued by a State for use by 

21 Federal agencies for identification purposes that 

22 shall include— 

23 (A) standards for documentation required 

24 as proof of identity of an applicant for a driv25 er’s license or personal identification card; 


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1 (B) standards for the verifiability of docu2 ments used to obtain a driver’s license or per3 sonal identification card; 

4 (C) standards for the processing of appli5 cations for driver’s licenses and personal identi6 fication cards to prevent fraud; 

7 (D) standards for information to be in8 cluded on each driver’s license or personal iden9 tification card, including— 

10 (i) the person’s full legal name; 

11 (ii) the person’s date of birth; 

12 (iii) the person’s gender; 

13 (iv) the person’s driver’s license or 

14 personal identification card number; 

15 (v) a photograph of the person; 

16 (vi) the person’s address of principal 

17 residence; and 

18 (vii) the person’s signature; 

19 (E) standards for common machine-read20 able identity information to be included on each 

21 driver’s license or personal identification card, 

22 including defined minimum data elements; 

23 (F) security standards to ensure that driv24 er’s licenses and personal identification cards 

25 are— 


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1 (i) resistant to tampering, alteration, 

2 or counterfeiting; and 

3 (ii) capable of accommodating and en4 suring the security of a photograph or 

5 other unique identifier; and 

6 (G) a requirement that a State confiscate 

7 a driver’s license or personal identification card 

8 if any component or security feature of the li9 cense or identification card is compromised. 

10 (c) NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before publishing the pro12 posed regulations required by subsection (b)(2) to 

13 carry out this title, the Secretary shall establish a 

14 negotiated rulemaking process pursuant to sub15 chapter IV of chapter 5 of title 5, United States 

16 Code (5 U.S.C. 561 et seq.). 

17 (2) TIME REQUIREMENT.—The process de18 scribed in paragraph (1) shall be conducted in a 

19 timely manner to ensure that— 

20 (A) any recommendation for a proposed 

21 rule or report— 

22 (i) is provided to the Secretary not 

23 later than 9 months after the date of the 

24 enactment of this Act; and 


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1 (ii) includes an assessment of the ben2 efits and costs of the recommendation; and 

3 (B) a final rule is promulgated not later 

4 than 12 months after the date of the enactment 

5 of this Act. 

6 (3) REPRESENTATION ON NEGOTIATED RULE7 MAKING COMMITTEE.—Any negotiated rulemaking 

8 committee established by the Secretary pursuant to 

9 paragraph (1) shall include equal numbers of rep10 resentatives from— 

11 (A) among State offices that issue driver’s 

12 licenses or personal identification cards; 

13 (B) among State elected officials; 

14 (C) the Department of Transportation; 

15 and 

16 (D) among interested parties, including ex17 perts in privacy protection, experts in civil lib18 erties and protection of constitutional rights, 

19 and experts in immigration law. 

20 (4) CONTENT OF REGULATIONS.—The regula21 tions required by subsection (b)(2)— 

22 (A) shall facilitate communication between 

23 the chief driver licensing official of a State, an 

24 appropriate official of a Federal agency and 

25 other relevant officials, to verify the authenVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:15 Mar 03, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S717.IS S717

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1 ticity of documents, as appropriate, issued by 

2 such Federal agency or entity and presented to 

3 prove the identity of an individual; 

4 (B) may not infringe on a State’s power to 

5 set criteria concerning what categories of indi6 viduals are eligible to obtain a driver’s license 

7 or personal identification card from that State; 

8 (C) may not require a State to comply with 

9 any such regulation that conflicts with or other10 wise interferes with the full enforcement of 

11 State criteria concerning the categories of indi12 viduals that are eligible to obtain a driver’s li13 cense or personal identification card from that 

14 State; 

15 (D) may not require a single design to 

16 which driver’s licenses or personal identification 

17 cards issued by all States must conform; and 

18 (E) shall include procedures and require19 ments to protect the privacy rights of individ20 uals who apply for and hold driver’s licenses 

21 and personal identification cards. 

22 (F) shall include procedures and require23 ments to protect the federal and state constitu24 tional rights and civil liberties of individuals 


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1 who apply for and hold driver’s licenses and 

2 personal identification cards; 

3 (G) shall not permit the transmission of 

4 any personally identifiable information except 

5 for in encrypted format; 

6 (H) shall provide individuals with proce7 dural and substantive due process, including 

8 promulgating rules and rights of appeal, to 

9 challenge errors in data records contained with10 in the databases created to implement this Act; 

11 (I) shall not permit private entities to scan 

12 the information contained on the face of a li13 cense, or in the machine readable component of 

14 the license, and resell, share or trade that infor15 mation with any other third parties, nor shall 

16 private entities be permitted to store the infor17 mation collected for any other than fraud pre18 vention purposes; 

19 (J) shall not preempt state privacy laws 

20 that are more protective of personal privacy 

21 than the standards, or regulations promulgated 

22 to implement this Act; and 

23 (K) shall neither permit nor require 

24 verification of birth certificates until a nationVerDate Aug 31 2005 18:15 Mar 03, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S717.IS S717

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1 wide system is designed to facilitate such 

2 verification. 

3 (d) GRANTS TO STATES.— 

4 (1) ASSISTANCE IN MEETING FEDERAL STAND5 ARDS.—Beginning on the date a final regulation is 

6 promulgated under subsection (b)(2), the Secretary 

7 shall award grants to States to assist them in con8 forming to the minimum standards for driver’s li9 censes and personal identification cards set forth in 

10 the regulation. 

11 (2) ALLOCATION OF GRANTS.—The Secretary 

12 shall award grants to States under this subsection 

13 based on the proportion that the estimated average 

14 annual number of driver’s licenses and personal 

15 identification cards issued by a State applying for a 

16 grant bears to the average annual number of such 

17 documents issued by all States. 

18 (3) MINIMUM ALLOCATION.—Notwithstanding 

19 paragraph (2), each State shall receive not less than 

20 0.5 percent of the grant funds made available under 

21 this subsection. 

22 (4) SEPARATE FUNDING.—Funds appropriated 

23 for grants under this section may not be commingled 

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1 ment and may not be used for any purpose other 

2 than the purpose set forth in paragraph (1). 

3 (e) EXTENSION OF EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Sec4 retary may extend the date specified under subsection 

5 (b)(1)(A) for not more than 2 years for driver’s licenses 

6 issued by a State if the Secretary determines that the 

7 State made reasonable efforts to comply with the date 

8 under such subsection but was unable to do so. 

9 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec11 retary $300,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2007 

12 through 2013 to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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