15 May 2008

hb715 louisiana state house votes to reject implementation of the real id act

UPDATE: hb715 louisiana becomes the 11th state to reject REAL ID

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brian mcnabb of the louisiana action council emails to inform us that on wednesday 14 may 2008, the louisiana house of representatives by a vote of 72 - 22 with 10 absent approved rep. brett geymann's hb715 which "directs the department of public safety and corrections not to implement the federal real id act of 2005"

BATON ROUGE, La - On Wednesday evening, the Louisiana House of Representatives voted in favor of HB 715, which calls for the rejection of the Real ID Act of 2005. In a vote of 72 - 22, the full House passed this measure as a direct response to this impending federal government mandate onto the states, which could be implemented as early as May, 2009.

Passed by Congress in 2005, the Real ID Act requires that states comply with the implementation of a national identification card, which Louisianans would need to board a commercial airplane, open a bank account or enter into a federal government building.

HB 715, which received bi-partisan support, now moves on to the Senate Transportation, Highways and Public Works Committee. WST... NOTE according to the state legislature website hb715 is assigned to the state senate judiciary a committee.

"Wednesday's vote on HB 715 sends a big signal to our colleagues in the senate that this is a serious issue that must be addressed immediately," said the bill's sponsor Rep. Brett Geymann (R-Lake Charles). "The House passage of this legislation is a first step in showing the rest of the country that the implementation and overall structure of the Real ID Act of 2005 has to be re-examined on a federal level," Geymann said.

Brian McNabb, Executive Director for the Louisiana Action Council is very optimistic about the chances of Louisiana ultimately rejecting Real ID. "Louisiana is well on its way to rejecting this federal government mandate, which is clearly a direct violation of our 10th Amendment rights. The Real ID Act of 2005 would place a huge financial responsibility on our state and its implementation effort and costs would be extremely burdensome to Louisiana. The House heard the major flaws of Real ID and overwhelmingly voted to reject its implementation upon the state of Louisiana. I feel confident that the senate will see this evidence and come to the same conclusion," said McNabb.

To date, eight other states have rejected the Real ID Act of 2005.
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on 11 january 2008 department of homeland security sec'y michael chertoff held a press conference about real id. sec'y chertoff stated that no citizen of any state that rejects real id will be prohibited from boarding an airplane or entering a federal building. he said that "if a state did opt-out of this, then their license would no longer as a matter of law, be accepted as identification for getting on an airplane. that means people from that state would have to come up with a different form of identification or they might find themselves in secondary, because when people come without proper identification they want to fly they do wind up going to secondary and getting questioned." ~ around time 24:25. so all the talk about citizens of states who reject real id not being able to fly etc is a patent falsehood.

sec'y chertoff reiterates this again in response to a reporters question at around time 38:34:

reporter: "mr. secretary would you elaborate what will happen in those states that opt-out out of it [real id] how do the people in those states get on airplanes and into federal buildings?"

sec'y chertoff: "you know they're going to wind up bringing other documents that are satisfactory or what will happen is if they dont have other documents they're going to have to face what people face now when they show up at the airport and they dont have identification which is they wind up going into secondary and we try to validate who they are...so there will be other options."

as for getting in a federal building, do you really think that if you're summoned for jury duty in a federal court or you're subpoenaed to appear in federal court to testify or you're being sued in federal court they are going to prohibit you or your attorney from entering the building? lol its amazing what some people will believe.

check out at around time 13:23 sec'y chertoff says that "i dont think the american people make sense."

in this national public radio interview, montana governor brian d. schweitzer, calls real id another 'harebrained scheme' and that "we've found that its best to just tell them (the federal government) to go to hell and run the state the way you want to run your state.' gov. schweitzer says "so that everyone understands, the montana legislature passed a bill that instructs the governor and the attorney general not to implement any provisions of the real id and this is the only thing that i know of that has united the farthest left to the farthest right in montana politics. there was not one dissenting vote out of 150 legislators. they simply said 'we're fed up with the federal government coming up with kooky id's that do not make us more secure.' this is the federal government telling a state must do something and you must pay for it, well, thanks for playing -- montana's not in."

when npr asks governor schweitzer whats going to happen when the deadline passes and montana hasnt complied -- the governor responds that "they're gonna show them their montana drivers license and they're gonna get on that commercial flight and nothings gonna happen...theirs nothing in the constitution that tells homeland security that their supposed to do this or they must do this. in fact, their isnt even any actions by congress that says this is the specific letter that you must have. this is another bluff by some bureaucrats in washington d.c. and thank god we live a long way from washington d.c."
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louisiana state representatives who voted properly to stop the federal government's papers please nazification of america were:

Posted by wst... at 15:06

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